Solar Eclipse or Surya Grahan (grahana/ grahanam.The eclispe on January 15, 2010 is an solar annular eclipse of a magnitude of 0.9190. This occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring(blocking) Earth's view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse will appear as partial eclipse over a region thousands of miles wide.
It will be visible as a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. It will be seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala (India), South Tamil Nadu(India), North Sri Lanka, parts of Burma and parts of China.
About an year ago India had witnessed was a Republic Day solar eclipse, 26 January 2009. Prior to that on 26 August 2008, an eclipse that was visibile in India had occurred. Several traditional practices are associated with solar eclipse in India. Some of them have been written here.
At approx 120pm Indian Std Time (IST) , the annular solar eclipse will be viewable in India at Thiruvananthapuram(Trivandrum), and exits India at Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The eclipse is can be seen for about 10.4 minutes in India. After Rameswaram, the eclipse moves to Sri Lanka at Delft Island, exits at Jaffna in Sri Lanka, cross Bay of Bengal and ends in Burma - China border.
For best viewing of the Eclipse, you ought to be in Maldives, where manyInternational flights land and take off everyday, being a world famous tourist destination. Visa for Maldives is free for 30 days for a tourist entry.
We had covered teh July 2009 eclipse here
