The first solar eclipse of the current year would occur on January 15 and will be visible partially in major parts of the country, a city-based Space Sciences organisation said on Friday.
People in South India will be the first to see the eclipse as the path of eclipse traverses across India before entering Bangladesh and Burma.
People in Western and South India would see the beginning of eclipse between 11 am and 11.30 am, whereas people from Central to North India would see the beginning of eclipse from 11.30 am to 12 noon, Planetary Society of India General Secretary N Raghunandan Kumar said.
People in Kavaratti island in Lakshadweep would be the first to see the beginning of eclipse at 10.55 am whereas at Dibrugarh in Assam, people would be one of the last to see the beginning (at 12.29 pm) of the eclipse, he said adding in the temple town of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu the duration of the eclipse will last for 10 minutes and 8 seconds.
The annular solar eclipse of this year is the best until the year 2019, as the next solar eclipse on January 4 in 2011 is visible to people in Northern parts of the country and few places in Gujarat, whereas the solar eclipse in 2016 though visible in India begins and lasts only for few minutes close to horizon in early hours of March 9, he said.
Meanwhile, Superintendent of Jiwaji Observatory Ujjain Rajendra Prakash Gupta said the best view of the January 15 eclipse, the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century, would be at Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu.
The eclipse would be seen for over 10 minutes from 1.16 pm, he said, adding that during this period 91.9 percent of the sun would hide behind the moon.
