Solar Eclipse on 1 Aug 08 and then on 22 July 2009

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The first total solar eclipse since March 2006 kicks off at 0923 GMT, when the lunar shadow touches down on the fringes of Nunavut province in northern Canada.The dark, narrow disc, known as the umbra, then races across the roof of the world before alighting in northern Siberia, where it will skip across central Russia and central Asia and head into Mongolia and northwestern China.It then curves to the southeast before expiring near the city of Xian at 1120 GMT, after a trek of some 10,200 kilometres (6,375 miles).Most of Asia, northern Europe and northern Canada will see a partial eclipse, weather permitting, according to Nasa’s veteran eclipse expert, Fred Espenak (http://eclipse. gsfc.nasa. gov/OH/OH2008.

html). Key facts On Solar Eclipse- AFP• Total solar eclipses occur when the Moon comes between the Earth and the Sun, completely obscuring the solar disk for a few minutes along a narrow path.The eclipse follows a west-to-east track that can last several hours until this perfect alignment ends.• The width of the path of the eclipse at totality is at most 269kms. The record duration of a totality is seven and a half minutes.• The totality path is caused by the dark, cone-shaped umbra (the Latin word for “shadow”) of the Moon. On either side of the umbra is the penumbra (“almost shadow”), which is around 8,000 kilometres wide. In the penumbra, people see a partial eclipse.• Total

eclipses happen about once every 18 months, but there are also periods of relative infrequency. Partial eclipses are much more frequent, and may occur several times a year.• Most eclipses occur at sea or in sparsely populated areas. The great total eclipse of Aug 11, 1999, was exceptional because it traversed such a populous area, from western Europe to India. The July 22, 2009, eclipse could be the most-viewed in human history, visible in a swathe from central India to central China.—AFP