NAGPUR:-Pray for clear skies to view solar eclipse

Nagpurians can only keep their fingers crossed and pray for a clear sky on Wednesday morning to witness the century's longest Total Solar Eclipse

(TSE), lasting 6 minutes and 44 seconds. Of course, even if the sky is clear, the city will be able to see only 96% of the eclipse. Even if it's cloudy, those interested in watching the celestial event as it happens have a visual treat on hand at the Raman Science Centre (RSC), which will show a simulated version from 6.23am to 7.24am.

Some other organizations like the Dhruva Skywatchers Association and some amateur astronomers are also making arrangements to show the eclipse to the common people and students. Those who do not want to take any risk and view it well can travel to Jabalpur and Bhopal, as the two cities lie in the totality belt. Read Air Vice Marshall Ulhas Deshpande is taking a team to the Bargi dam near Jabalpur while P C Joshi, a regular sky watcher is travelling to Bhopal to view the event. Experts say the eclipse is expected to be viewed best from Patna, because from these places the Sun will be around 13? to 14? above the horizon respectively.

Most of the cities in India, including Nagpur, will see the Sun rising partially eclipsed. Shrikant Pathak, Project Coordinator, RSC, told TOI that in Nagpur the Sun will rise in an eclipsed phase. The event can best be viewed between 6.23am and 7.24am.

The eclipse in totality (the umbra area) can be seen in Surat, Baroda, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Varanasi, Patna and some eastern cities of the country. Some countries in the eastern hemisphere like Nepal, Bhutan, China, southern islands of Japan etc also fall in this belt. The eclipse will end over the Pacific Ocean. The path of totality will cross eastern Nepal and northern Bangladesh and reach the India-China border at 06:35 IST. The longest totality visible from land area in ocean would be 6 min 39 sec in the Ryukyu Islands of Japan almost at local noon.

The path of totality will then move towards southeast in the Pacific Ocean and the Moon's shadow will lift off the Earth at around 09:48 IST. The totality will be visible on Earth for about 3 h 25 min and the path of totality will travel about approximately 15,150km on the Earth's surface.