Partial solar eclipse on Oct. 25, Chennai among cities that’ll witness it

A partial eclipse of the sun will occur on October 25, day after Diwali, the Ministry of Earth Sciences said in a statement on Tuesday. In India, where the partial eclipse will be visible in all four metros, besides other cities, the eclipse will begin before sunset in the afternoon and will be seen from most of the places.

In Chennai, it could be viewed with little visibility, from 5.14 p.m. to 5.44 p.m. In Delhi and Mumbai, respectively, the eclipse will last for 1 hour 13 minutes and 1 hour 19 minutes from sunrise to sunset. In Kolkata, the partial eclipse will last from its start until sunset for only 12 minutes.

However, the eclipse cannot be seen from Andaman & Nicobar Islands and some parts of Northeast India such as Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tamelong, etc. In the extreme western cities, like Porbandar, Gandhinagar, Mumbai, Silvasa, Surat, and Panaji, the eclipse will last for more than an hour

The celestial event will be visible for the longest part in Gujarat’s Dwarka: for 1 hour and 45 minutes. The ending of the eclipse will not be visible from India as the same will be in progress after sunset.

Podcast: Key scientific takeaways from the solar eclipse

Best visiblity in western Russia, Kazakhstan

The partial solar eclipse will be best visible in parts of western Russia and Kazakhstan. While in certain parts of Russia and Kazakhstan the visibility would be 80%, the partial eclipse would also be visible in most parts of Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.

Rare celestial event

What makes this eclipse special is that it will not be seen from India for another decade: on November 3, 2032. Meanwhile, the Partial Solar Eclipse will occur on March 29, 2025. Countries across the world are preparing to witness the event. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are not exactly aligned and the Sun appears to have a dark shadow on a small part of its surface.

There are three phases of a partial solar eclipse, which include a beginning, a maximum point, and an end. During the eclipse, people in India will be able to see 43 per cent of the Sun obscured, and experts advise using solar goggles to view the eclipse to save your eyes from the UV rays of the Sun.

The safest way to view the solar eclipse is either by using the right filter such as aluminized Mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by projecting the image of the Sun, using a telescope onto a white board.