This Article is From Jul 21, 2009

Celestial spectacle of the century

New Delhi: On Wednesday morning, thousands of Indians will get to see the greatest show in the sky. A total solar eclipse, the century's longest and the last such sight most of us will live to see.

Large parts of north India will be in total darkness as the sun disappears for over 3 minutes. It's a rare celestial event when the Sun, Moon and the Earth all fall in a straight line and the moon comes between the Sun and the Earth.

The eclipse will begin at 5.28 am over the Arabian Sea; the first city to fall dark will be Surat, then Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi, Gaya, Patna, Darjeeling, Itanagar and Dibrugarh.

The moon's shadow will then pass through eastern China. The eclipse will end over the Pacific Ocean at 9.48 am when the shadow of the moon leaves the Earth

Just before the moon obstructs the sun completely, a spectacular diamond ring is visible. This is followed by the Bailey's Beads, like a necklace - an effect of sunlight streaming across the jagged edges of the moon surface.

Then, there's total darkness and everything stops as if it's night.

In this brief period the Corona or the gaseous cloud surrounding the sun is visible, which scientists study intensely.

What could be a spoiler, however, is the presence of monsoon clouds.

The common question - is it safe to look? Yes, but ONLY if you protect your eyes. Looking directly at the sun can burn your eyes and cause permanent blindness.
.