Country witnesses 'deepest' annular solar eclipse in over a century

India on Sunday witnessed annual solar eclipse or ‘surya grahan’ 2020, the third eclipse even for this year after first two lunar eclipses took place in January and June  and the last annual solar eclipse of this decade.

The eclipse started from around 9 am across the Indian map as the Sun, the Moon, and the Earth came in a straight line, and the country witnessed the ‘deepest’ annular solar eclipse in over a century.

Astrologers said it a fourth super rare hybrid eclipse which is a mix between an annular and total solar eclipse.

Areas like Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, Shillong and more witnessed a partial phase of the annular solar eclipse from 9 am.

In the eclipse, the distance of the Moon and Earth will be larger than usual which means the Moon will not be able to cover up the Sun fully and will leave out the borders of the Sun – giving an appearance of a “Ring of Fire”.

People caught the glimpse of the partially covered Sun between 10 am and 2.28 pm as per the time differing as locations in India. The eclipse continued for over three hours covering 84 per cent Sun. There are three types of solar eclipses – total, partial, and annular. IANS