As the annular solar eclipse, wherein the Sun appears like a ring of fire, is  visible in Rajasthan, Haryana, and Uttarakhand on Sunday, people in other parts of India were able to see a partial solar eclipse, also known as Surya Grahan.

The solar eclipse started from around 9 a.m. 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. A few prominent places within this narrow annularity path are Dehradun, Kurukshetra, Chamoli, Joshimath, Sirsa, Suratgarh.

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There are three types of solar eclipses – total, partial, and annular.

While the partial phase of the eclipse began at 9.16 am, the annular phase started at 10.19 am and will end at 2.02 pm. The partial phase of the eclipse will end at 3.04 pm, said the Ministry of Earth Sciences.

“Close to noon, for a small belt in north India the eclipse will turn into a beautiful annular (ring-shaped) one since the Moon is not close enough to cover the Sun completely,” the Astronomical Society of India said.

People are catching the glimpse of the partially covered sun since 10 a.m. and can watch it till 2.28 p.m. as per the time differing as locations in India. The eclipse will continue for over three hours covering 84 per cent Sun.

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

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”.

Press Information Bureau in a tweet informed that it is the last annular solar eclipse in India of this decade.

Astrologers said it a fourth super rare hybrid eclipse which is a mix between an annular and total solar eclipse. This is 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 annular path also passes through Congo, Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Pakistan, and China.

The next annular eclipse will be seen from South America in December 2020. Another annular eclipse will occur in 2022, but that it will be hardly visible from India, said N Rathnashree the Director of Nehru Planetarium in Delhi.

A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when the Moon comes in between the Earth and the Sun and when all the three celestial objects are aligned.

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the angular diameter of the Moon falls short of that of the Sun such that it cannot cover up the latter completely. As a result, a ring of the Sun”s disk remains visible around the Moon. This gives an image of a ring of fire.

Obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of the partial eclipse will be around 94 per cent in Delhi, 80 per cent in Guwahati, 78 per cent in Patna, 75 per cent in Silchar, 66 per cent in Kolkata, 62 per cent in Mumbai, 37 per cent in Bangalore, 34 per cent in Chennai, 28 per cent in Port Blair.

“Places like Delhi will be dark for 5-7 minutes from 11 to 11.30 pm,” said Arvind Paranjpye, the Director of the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai.

“During the eclipse, there are cases when avian creatures assume that it is time to go back to their roosts. However, there has to be more study on the impact of eclipse on birds,” he added.

He cautioned that solar eclipse should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time as it can cause permanent damage even leading to blindness.

The safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using a proper filter like aluminised mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by making a projection of the Sun”s image on a white board by telescope.

Several organisations have organised lectures on the eclipse and also the virtual viewing of the phenomenon.

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has organised a special lecture on ”The Science of Solar Eclipses”.

The Nehru Planetarium, Delhi is webcasting the eclipse, apart from organising discussions, its director Rathnashree said.