A team of international astrophysicists has found a new explanation for the early composition of our solar system.
The team has found that radioactive nuclei found in the earliest meteorites, dating back billions of years, could have been delivered by a nearby dying giant star, six times the mass of the sun.
Maria Lugaro from Monash University said the findings could change our current ideas on the origin of the solar system.
"We have known about the early presence of these radioactive nuclei in meteorites since the 1960s, but we do not know where they originated from. The presence of the radioactive nuclei has been previously linked to a nearby supernova explosion, but we are showing now that these nuclei are more compatible with an origin from the winds coming from a large dying star," Lugaro said.
The conclusion was reached by combining stellar observations from telescopes with recently developed theoretical models reproduced on powerful computers of how stars evolve and which nuclear reaction occurs within their interiors.
"Within one million years of the formation of the solar system the radioactive nuclei decayed inside the rocks where they were trapped, releasing high-energy photons, which caused the rocks to heat."
"Since much of earth's water is believed to have originated from these first rocks, the possibility of life on earth depends on their heating history and, in turn, on the presence of radioactive nuclei." Lugaro said.
"What we need to do now is investigate the probability that a dying giant star could have actually been nearby our then young solar system and polluted it with radioactive nuclei," he said.
The findings have been published in Meteoritic and Planetary Science.
For an Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilot chasing a target at Mach 2.5 or more than twice the speed of sound and yet not managing to play catch seems like something out of a sci-fi film. But for Air Marshal S. Mukerji, chasing the sun's shadow during the total solar eclipse on Oct 24, 1995, that's exactly what happened.
Heralding the IAF's participation in scientific study of total solar eclipse, Mukerji, presently the Air Officer-in-Charge Personnel at Air Headquarters and the then commanding officer of IAF's only MiG-25 reconnaissance squadron based at Bareilly, undertook a sortie in the giant plane to record the celestial event. He got the rare opportunity to film the Sun's corona from an astounding altitude of 80,000 feet.
"We flew at Mach 2.5 in the path of the eclipse at 80,000 feet along the planned central axis of the eclipse over Neem ka Thana (in Rajasthan's Sikar district)," recalled Mukerji of his historic sortie.
The sortie finds a mention in his flying log book simply as "Supersonic Profile".
"The weather and visibility were not any constraints as clarity at stratospheric levels is far better than that nearer the ground," he said.
After the total solar eclipse of 1898 over India, the next occurrence took place in 1980. And in the subsequent total solar eclipse in 1995, the IAF assisted the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in their quest to film this celestial alignment. This was possible with aviation speeds streaking way past the supersonic barrier.
With a manual camera mounted above the instrument panel, a special lead and button provided to the other pilot, Wing Commander Y.S. Babu, seated in the front cockpit, the duo, with special solar filters on their visors flew straight towards the Sun for a minute and 24 seconds, photographing never-before seen images of the spectacle during the total solar eclipse.
"A lot of preparation went into the sortie. It had to be charted and axis programmed on the inertial navigation system, with briefings by scientists armed with NASA charts. The aircraft was first jacked up and the angle-of-attack simulated on the ground to harmonize the camera along the axis.
"In addition, the aircraft's belly camera could capture the shadow beneath that was 85 km in width," Mukerji explained.
During Wednesday's eclipse, a 10-member team of scientists and a camera team will be flying in an AN-32 transport aircraft from the Agra airbase in an endeavour to film the event. The aircraft will fly along the central axis on a north-westerly direction at an approximate altitude of 25,000 feet, turn around at Khajuraho and land back at Agra.
This apart, a Mirage-2000 trainer will also take off from the Gwalior airbase and the pilot in the rear seat will take photographs as the fighter flies on an angular track to the central axis of the Sun's shadow.
Did you know animals and birds often prepare for sleep or behave confusedly during total solar eclipse? Well, here are some other little known facts about solar eclipse.
- The longest recorded duration for a total solar eclipse is 7.5 minutes.
- A total solar eclipse will not be visible until the sun is more than 90 percent covered by the moon.
- When the sun is covered 99 percent, day becomes night in the areas where the eclipse is visible.
- In the 5,000-year period - between 2000 BC and 3000 AD - the earth is supposed to witness 11,898 solar eclipses.
- There can be a maximum total five solar eclipses, partial, annular or total in any year, and there are at least two solar eclipses every year somewhere on the earth.
- Total solar eclipses occur once every year or two years and only during a new moon.
- Every eclipse begins at sunrise at some point in its track and ends at sunset about half way around the globe from the starting point. Wednesday's total solar eclipse will start at sunrise in India and end at sunset in the eastern hemisphere.
- Nearly identical eclipses (total, annular or partial) occur after every 18 years and 11 days, called the Saros Cycle.
- During a solar eclipse, moon shadow travels at a speed of 1770.28 km per hour at the equator and up to 8,046.73 kmph at the north and south poles.
- During an eclipse, the moon's shadow is at the most 273.59 km wide, and in the path of totality, local temperatures can drop by as much as 20 degrees Celsius during a total solar eclipse.
- Prior to the advent of modern atomic clocks, studies of ancient records of solar eclipses enabled astronomers to detect a 0.001 second per century slowing down in earth's rotation.
Major Hindu temples across India will shut their doors for a day July 22 to ward off the negative energy said to be generated by the total solar eclipse, which, priests and spiritual gurus say, weaken the natural "positive aura" of idols in shrines.
While the Venkateswara temple in Tirumala will close its gates at 9 p.m. July 21 to 8 a.m. July 22, the Lakshmi-Narayan temple in the capital, also known as the Birla Temple, will remain closed during the period of the eclipse .
"The temple usually opens at 4.30 a.m. But on Wednesday, it will open at 7.30 a.m. During the eclipse, we will keep tulsi leaves, holy water from the Ganges, kusha (grass) and rudraksha inside the sanctum as a shield. After the eclipse, we will sprinkle water from the Ganges to purify the temple before getting on with the morning rituals. The scriptures day it is inauspicious to invoke the deities during eclipse because the shadow on the sun depletes psychological strength," Ravindra Nagar, the head priest of the Birla Temple, told IANS.
All Birla temples across the country will remain shut during the eclipse.
A statement by the Tirumala Turupati Devasthanam, which manages the famous temple at Tirupati, said 'ekantham' or service to the lord, performed in the morning, will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday.
The famous Sri Kanakdurga temple at Indrakeeladri hill in Vijaywada, Brahmarambika Mallikarjuna Swamyvari Devasthanam at Srisailam, Sitaramachandra Swamy temple at Bhadrachalam and Satyanarayana Swamy temple at Annavaram in Andhra Pradesh and almost all temples in Kerala will remain closed.
"However, the dhyanalinga shrines remain open. As all temples in India are energy centres, the extreme pull exerted by the combined energies of the sun, moon and the planets during solar eclipse makes it a good time for devotees to visit Dhayanlinga temples and make use of the energy. Dhyanalinga temples are usually meditation space," spiritual guru Jaggi Vasudev, head of the spiritual organisation, Isha Foundation, told IANS from Coimbatore.
As the core of the Dhyanalinga deity, usually Lord Shiva, is solidified mercury, eclipse activates the energy centre and makes it more easily avilable to people, he explained.
In most temples across south India which will remain shut druing the eclipse, the idols and sanctums will be covered by organic material like "grass, leaves of the neem or vila trees or raw silk shroud to prevent the natural aura from being destroyed", the seer from Coimbatore said.
Usually, deities in temples which have been consecrated by mantras and rituals have an external energy field around the form which combined pull of the sun and moon during the can weaken during the eclipse.
-Indo-Asian News Service
Credits: Julie Demboski’s Astrology
Of the two Lunar eclipses and one Solar eclipse occurring in this set, the upcoming Solar one is the one to watch. Not literally, of course, as that will burn your eyes out (no wonder people were frightened of eclipses–there must have been plenty of village idiots who did just that–and who wouldn’t think it was God, or gods, or Baal, or Apollo, or Ra punishing those hubristic enough to stare into what in many cultures amounts to the face of God?) No, watch this Solar eclipse, promised in the Pacific time zone of North America at 7:33 PM the 21st of July, for the figurative burn it may bring.partial solar eclipse
The transiting Sun and Moon meet at 29 Cancer 26, an anaretic degree, and that signals the energies involved are both in a state of high stress. Why? Placement of any energy at an anaretic degree (the very earliest and latest of a sign) suggests that the body has traveled through the experience cycle of all preceding degrees of the sign–now the body is pressured to symbolically ‘finish up’ with the energy spectrum of the sign. This means that any facets of the sign not experienced during the course of the transit now come forward, needing to be expressed in order to complete the experience cycle. In this case, the energies are Cancerian: of nurture, care, involved with others, nourishing, intrusive, emotional, intuitive, maternal, enveloping, sensitive, changeable or monthly. For all of us, the place in the natal chart where 29 degrees of Cancer falls (if this does not fall on a natal placement) will designate by House where we may be facing a crisis energy that blends the Cancer experience spectrum with the matters of the House.
Solar eclipseFor those with a natal placement at this degree (or within 2 degrees of it, either side), the crisis energy is much stronger, and specific to the manifestation of the natal body or point. By ‘crisis,’ however, I mean ‘need to face’ as it applies to the matters brought forward. If one is willing to be responsible, literally willing to respond, one need not suffer crisis or upset of any kind–in fact the impetus offered by the Solar eclipse energy can bring great leaps forward, particularly at the personal level, in illuminating all facets of a matter or issue, and endowing one with the energy and ’sight’ to resolve it.
Other natal placements to which the eclipse is in hard aspect may share in the crisis energy (though to a lesser intensity or extent), with the aspect itself suggesting the way toward resolution. For instance, a square says that the eclipse will present an energy situation (related to both the 29 Cancer placement and the House in which this occurs) that is in conflict with the natal energy as it exists, and requires one to weigh, consider, and negotiate as one would with any square. Again, keep the aspect orb to 2 degrees or less, and as with the conjunction, a willingness to face the energy and deal with it can minimize or eliminate problems, and even turn them to your advantage.
Soft contacts to natal placements (sextiles, trines) offer to bolster the manifestation of the natal energy with the eclipse energy. We musn’t assume that this is uniformly positive, however, as ease in blending the two energies can bring forward a ‘path of least resistance’ manifestation that may effectively undermine our best interests. Control is the key with soft aspects, channeling them productively into assisting expression of the natal energy while remaining attentive to implications and ramifications of the interaction.
The eclipse itself makes a few aspects: a quincunx to Pluto, and a conjunction to the South Node in Leo (with complementary opposition to the North Node). Whenever we have an eclipse, it’s important to look at the pattern it forms with other transiting bodies, as this tells us something about the effects we can expect; the contacts the eclipse makes are essentially part and parcel of the ‘eclipse package’ we experience. A quincunx to Pluto suggests that the crisis energy of the eclipse will run deep, be intense, transformative, and perhaps a little dangerous or disturbing, unearthing secrets or things we’d rather leave buried. This aspect may make us feel that the eclipse itself is dangerous or disruptive, but this is the energy of the eclipse feeding through and adjusting (the quincunx) to the active energy of transiting Pluto, and to our senses there may be no distinction.orbital view solar eclipse
The Solar eclipse conjunct the South Node in Leo brings in elements of the past and our place in it. Identity issues are ‘lit up’ by the eclipse, and the South Node itself is at an anaretic degree (but this time in the opposite situation to the eclipse–here the South Node is back at the seminal moment of our past that helped form our identity, our creative sense of Self–00 Leo).
We can expect matters of the Self, our origins in the past, and secrets or change, to be the eclipse effect for all of us, with reference to the House where the eclipse occurs; those with a natal hook must figure in the natal effect, as well, using common sense and positioning oneself mentally to make the most of available energies. And remember, Dark of the Moon precedes the eclipse, meaning that we may all be feeling a little more ‘in the dark’ than we’d like beginning about evening PDT of the 18th, with illumination coming on the New Moon, as it always does.
lightningAn eclipse is really an opportunity to put lightning in a bottle; let’s do our best to use the energy wisely.
बुधवार सुबह जब इस सदी का सबसे लंबा और पूर्ण सूर्यग्रहण होगा तो भारत में कुछ लोग हवाई जहाज़ में सवार होकर इसका नज़ारा देख रहे होंगे और कुछ ज़मीन पर इसके नकारात्मक प्रभाव से बचने की कोशिश में होंगे.
इतना लंबा सूर्यग्रहण दोबारा 123 साल बाद होगा. पूर्ण ग्रहण भारतीय समय के मुताबिक सुबह छह बज कर 23 मिनट से देखा जा सकेगा और इसे देखने के लिए बेहतरीन जगह है पटना के पास का तरेगना गाँव जहाँ यह ग्रहण तीन मिनट 48 सेकेंड के लिए नज़र आएगा.
लेकिन बरसात का मौसम है और घटा का ख़तरा, लिहाज़ा खगोलीय शिक्षा के क्षेत्र में काम करने वाले संगठन स्पेस ने इस मौके पर एक हवाई जहाज़ किराए पर लिया है.
संगठन से संबंध रखने वाले अमित वर्मा कहते हैं कि ज़्यादातर सीटें बुक हो चुकी हैं.
इस जहाज़ पर ऐसे बहुत कम लोग हैं जिन्हें पहले से खगोलीय ज्ञान का शौक है. बहुत से फोटोग्राफ़र हैं और ऐसे लोग भी जिन्हें नई चीज़ें आज़माने का शौक है.
अमित वर्मा
वो कहते हैं, "इस जहाज़ पर ऐसे बहुत कम लोग हैं जिन्हें पहले से खगोलीय ज्ञान का शौक है. बहुत से फोटोग्राफ़र हैं और ऐसे लोग भी जिन्हें नई चीज़ें आज़माने का शौक है."
इस जहाज़ पर अगर आप खिड़की के पास बैठना चाहें तो टिकट 81 हज़ार रूपए का है लेकिन बाक़ी सीटें 29 हज़ार से शुरु होती हैं.
ये जहाज़ दिल्ली से उड़ान भरने के बाद गया के ऊपर सैलानियों को सूर्य ग्रहण का नज़ारा दिखाएगा.
अमित कहते हैं, "41 हज़ार फुट की ऊंचाई का मतलब ये है कि आप बादलों से ऊपर उड़ान भर रहे होंगे और जब सूरज अंधेरे में डूबेगा तो बदली छाने की कोई बाधा आड़े नहीं आएगी."
ज़मीन पर तैयारी
ये तो हुई आसमान की बात. ज़मीन पर क्या हो रहा है? सूर्यग्रहण के दौरान बहुत से मंदिरों के दरवाज़े श्रद्धालुओं के लिए बंद कर दिए जाएंगे.
दिल्ली के प्राचीन हनुमान मंदिर के पुजारी पंडित श्रीरामनंदन झा कहते हैं, "ग्रहण के वक्त देवी देवताओं की शक्ति कम हो जाती है. ग्रहण के बाद उन्हें दोबारा स्नान करा कर भोग कराया जाएगा जिसके बाद ही मंदिरों के पट फिर खोले जाएंगे."
सूर्यग्रहण
दिल्ली के अधिकतर मंदिर ग्रहण के दौरान बंद रहेंगे
ज्योतिषियों का भी ख़याल है कि सूर्यग्रहण अच्छी ख़बर नहीं है. दिल्ली में ज्योतिषियों के संगठन के अध्यक्ष अरुण बंसल के मुताबिक जहां कहीं भी ग्रहण नज़र आएगा वहां नुकसान होगा.
वो कहते हैं, "इस बार भारत में ग्रहण ज़्यादा नज़र आ रहा है. इसलिए यहां प्राकृतिक विपदाओं और दुर्घटनाओं की आशंका रहेगी और इसमें किसी बड़े नेता का निधन भी हो सकता है. इसके अलावा सूर्य ग्रहण के पंद्रह दिनों बाद भूकंप आने का ख़तरा भी होगा."
ज्योतिषियों की भविष्यवाणी कहां तक सच साबित होगी ये तो कोई नहीं जानता लेकिन अगर आपने सूर्यग्रहण देखते समय पर्याप्त एहतियात नहीं बरती तो आँखों को काफी नुकसान पहुँच सकता है.
अंतरिक्ष अनुसंधान के अमरीकी संगठन नासा के अनुसार ग्रहण देखने का सबसे सस्ता और सुरक्षित तरीका ये है कि इसे सीधे देखने की बज़ाए इसका प्रतिबिंब देखा जाए.
सीधे देखने के लिए स्पेशल फिल्टर का इस्तेमाल करना ज़रूरी है ताकि सूरज की हानिकारक किरणों के प्रभाव से बचा जा सके.
पूर्ण सूर्य ग्रहण २००९ और भारत
भारत, पाकिस्तान, चीन, जापान समेत अनेक देशों में 22 जुलाई का सूर्य ग्रहण दिखाई देगा। विज्ञानिकों का कहना है कि ये इस शताब्दी के लंबे सूर्य ग्रहण में से एक होगा।
भारत में पूर्ण सूर्यग्रहण के मौक़े पर पर्यटकों को लुभाने की कोशिश जोर शोर से की जा रही है.
हालांकि भारत में पूर्ण सूर्यग्रहण केवल कुछ मिनट के लिए ही दिखाई देगा लेकिन पर्यटन कंपनियों ने इस मौक़े को भुनाने के लिए विशेष अभियान शुरू किया है.
गुजरात सरकार ने 22 जुलाई को पड़ने वाले पूर्ण सूर्य ग्रहण को पर्यटन के एक बड़े उत्सव के तौर पर मनाने का फ़ैसला किया है.
इसी तरह बिहार के पटना के पास तरेगना गाँव में सूर्यग्रहण पर पर्यटकों का जमावड़ा होगा.
टूर आपरेटर्स ने सूर्यग्रहण को दिखाने के लिए विशेष उड़ानों की व्यवस्था की है जो इस दौरान एक शहर से दूसरे शहर उड़ान भरेंगी.
इसमें खिड़की वाली सीटों के लिए विशेष क़ीमत वसूली जा रही है.
दरअसल नासा के अनुसार भारत में ये सूर्य ग्रहण सुबह 5 बजकर 28 मिनट से शुरू होकर 7 बजकर 40 मिनट तक देखा जा सकेगा.
लेकिन पूर्ण सूर्यग्रहण सुबह 6.26 से 6.30 तक चलेगा जिसमें सूर्य पूरी तरह छुप जाएगा.
भारत में पूर्ण सूर्यग्रहण भोपाल, सूरत, दार्जलिंग, वाराणसी और पटना के आसपास देखा जा सकेगा.
लेकिन दिल्ली, मुंबई, हैदराबाद, बंगलौर, अहमदाबाद, कोलकाता और चेन्नई में आंशिक सूर्यग्रहण ही देखा जा सकेगा.
गुजरात के पर्यटन सचिव किशोर राव ने पत्रकारों से बातचीत में कहा कि गुजरात सरकार 22 जुलाई को सूरत में एक विशेष कार्यक्रम आयोजित कर रही है.
उन्होंने उम्मीद जताई कि सूर्यग्रहण को देखने के लिए लगभग पाँच हज़ार पर्यटक सूरत में जुटेंगे.
सूर्यग्रहण भारत के पश्चिमी क्षेत्र से शुरू होगा और फिर पूर्वी भारत, बर्मा, जापान और चीन के छोटे द्वीपों की तरफ बढ़ेगा.
The total solar eclipse will be of longest duration during this century. It will be visible in India, some of the Japanese islands, China and Pacific Ocean. The eclipse begins with the sunrise in the western part of India, travels to eastern part of India, crosses to Myna-mar (Burma), small islands of Japan and China. In India Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Varanasi and Patna are some of the cities lie close to the central part of the totality. In China duration of the totality will be about 5 minutes. In India altitude of the sun will be about 15 degrees in the eastern part at the time of total eclipse and this period is full of rains due to South West monsoon.
Imaging of the solar corona has the advantages of providing the information over two dimensional region of the solar corona but it may have the small uncertainty of in the data due to variations in the sky transparency. On the other hand spectroscopy provides data only on the small portion of the solar corona but with spectral purity and is possible to account for the variations in the sky transparency. Line profiles can also yield information about the temperature and non-thermal structure of the solar corona.
A Purna Surya Grahan passing over some of Earth's most densely populated regions on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, may become the most viewed eclipse ever.
People across central India and in parts of Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Myanmar will briefly find themselves in daytime darkness before the solar eclipse proceeds into China.
Most of the best viewing opportunities are in China, where some 30 million people will be able to witness the solar eclipse in the coastal cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou alone, according to veteran eclipse scientist Jay Pasachoff of Williams College in Massachusetts.
The eclipse will then continue east, passing over Japan's Ryukyu Islands before reaching its maximum duration point over the Pacific Ocean, where the sun will be completely blocked by the moon for 6 minutes and 39 seconds, according to NASA scientist Fred Espenak.
Thousands of overseas tourists and potentially millions of Chinese are flocking to areas along the eclipse path, where hotels are charging higher rates, according to Chinese media reports.
The July 2009 total solar eclipse is expected to have the longest duration of totality in the 21st century, experts say, and should give Pasachoff plenty of data to keep him and his team busy for months.
Pasachoff will see only about five and half minutes of totality from a site in eastern China, but "once you have five minutes-plus of totality, the extra minute that we could have [seen] is not significant," he added.
This year there have already been two eclipses - of the Sun on Jan 26 and of the Moon on Feb 9 respectively. During July/August 2009, we shall be witnessing three eclipses in a row. However, there is nothing to be alarmed about. The orbits and positions of the Moon and the Earth with respect to the Sun can make it happen. In fact two consecutive eclipses in a year are more common. A lunar eclipse happens on a Full Moon day. A solar eclipse takes place on a New Moon day. The last time triple eclipses took place was in the year 2000. Ever since, there have been many doubles in the subsequent years.
In the year 2009, the triplet occurs as follows:
1. Jul 7, 2009 Penumbral lunar eclipse - it occurs during 14:08 - 16:09 hrs IST and so, not visible from India.
2. Jul 22, 2009 Total solar eclipse - starting early morning; total eclipse is to be visible from locations in India falling in the path of totality; partial eclipse will be visible all over India; for more details please visit www.iiap.res.in.
3. Aug 6-7, 2009 Penumbral lunar eclipse - it occurs during 04:34 - 07:44 hrs IST on the 7th Aug, visible from India around Moonset time.
The sixth eclipse of the year will be a partial lunar eclipse, on the night of Dec 31, 2009/Jan 1 2010. It shall occur during 22:47 - 02:58 hrs IST and therefore be visible from India.
Do you remember or have read about the total solar eclipse of Feb 16, 1980? The path of totality passed over India making it the first total solar eclipse of the century to be observed from India. In independent India, scientists, teachers and students from various research and educational institutions, universities and schools for the first time ever went about in large numbers to study so extensively the greatest spectacle nature offers the mankind with whatever equipments they could procure or make. While it is the corona of the Sun that is the most important entity of interest to the solar astronomer, visible for a very short duration of the totality, the impact of the event is not limited to the world of science alone. It is far reaching and multidimensional. The awareness a natural phenomenon and its scientific study generates is phenomenal. In that sense the Feb 16, 1980 eclipse was a great awakener post Independence that created an unprecedented excitement among persons from all walks of life. The path of totality fell over places in India such as Hubli, Raichur, Nalgonda and Konark etc.
The Indian Institute of Astrophysics established camps for observations at Hosur near Hubli and at Jawalgera near Raichur, in Karnataka. A distinct feature at the Jawalgera Camp was a massive all steel 68 feet tower which housed specific experimental installations. An optical system consisting of a coelostat and a lens placed atop the tower was to send the image of the eclipsed Sun to its bottom, converted into a basement laboratory with thatched walls. Here the IIA astronomers had installed a flash spectrograph in order to analyze the chromospheric and coronal radiation. All in all, there were seven experiments to be conducted. Camping with IIA were Czech and Yugoslav teams that set up experiments of their own. The Czechs had brought their equipment from Czechoslovakia in a caravan of cars and trucks via Iran and Pakistan in 25 days.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. At least two and up to five solar eclipses can occur each year on Earth, with between zero and two of them being total eclipses.[1] Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at any location because during each eclipse totality exists only along a narrow corridor in the relatively tiny area of the Moon's umbra.
On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun will be visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth which includes most of eastern Asia, and the Pacific Ocean. The total solar eclipse of 22nd of July 2009 will be the longest eclipse of the 21st Century being 6 minutes 38 seconds at the point of maximum eclipse. The occurrences of total solar eclipses are still important, not withstanding the invention of coronagraph in 1930 and number of space instruments launched in space to make the observations of solar corona in EUV, soft X-ray and low resolution broad band images. The total solar eclipses provide minimum of scattered light about 1000 times less than that in the coronagraphs. Also observations can be made with high spectral, spatial and temporal resolutions as compared to those of space base instruments because large and heavy equipment can be used in ground base observations.
The temperature in the solar corona rises to million degrees from about 5700 degrees at the photospheric level. Some models have been proposed to explain the heating of solar corona but the existing models are unable to explain all the physical and dynamical properties of the solar corona. It has been recognized that magnetic fields play an important role in heating up the plasma in the solar corona but identification of the process or processes still remains an open question. It has been proposed that occurrence of micro or nano flares at the surface of the sun can create shock waves and contribute to the heating of solar corona but some have argued that these waves get dissipated in the chromosphere itself and cannot reach the corona. The existence of fast or slow mode magneto-hydrodynamic waves in the solar corona is expected to cause intensity and velocity oscillations in the solar corona in the range of 1 Hz and lower frequencies. Many attempts have been made to detect these oscillations but the results are contradictory. A large number of small-scale reconnections have also been proposed to explain the heating of solar corona. Another way to heat the solar corona is to generate waves through turbulence (acousting waves). The existence of non-thermal motion in the solar corona and its variation with height has also been interpreted to cause heating of the plasma in the solar corona.
A long wait by sky gazers to look at a rare celestial event will end tomorrow (July 22) when the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century will be seen in Indian cities like Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi and Patna. July 22nd promises a solar eclipse that will be visible in many regions in India. The moon will hide the main disc of the sun and only the outer portions will be visible and this promises to be an amazing sight.
Occurring at the sunrise on July 22 morning in the region, this rare celestial activity will start from Surat in Gujarat and towards parts of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, then covering Gaya in Bihar with clearest view and culminate in Dibrugarh in Assam, till 10.30 am. The journey of the partial view of the solar eclipse in the region can be seen from 5.30 am to 7.30 am.
Solar eclipses have been occuring since times immemorial. The solar eclipse occuring on July 22 would be the longest one to occur and the last eclipse of this century.
The phenomenon happens when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth so that the Sun is fully or partially covered. A solar eclipse can only happen during a new moon when the Sun and the Moon are in conjunction with each other.
And, the world is preparing for the grand event. In Japan, hundreds of Japanese are flocking to the southern island of Akuseki, which is to witness the total eclipse. The Akuseki island will plunge into darkness for more than six minutes. The phenomenon will be visible in other parts of Japan, but the view from Akuseki is said to be the longest total eclipse out of all areas in the country.
China's financial capital Shanghai gears up for what is set to be the longest total solar eclipse this century. The total eclipse can be seen in some parts of China. According to the astronomers, the total eclipse will plunge shanghai into darkness for more than six minutes.
A total solar eclipse passing over some of Earth's most densely populated regions on Wednesday, July 22, 2009, may become the most viewed eclipse ever.
It will be the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting at most 6 minutes, 58 seconds. It has sparked tourist interest in eastern China and India.
It will be visible from a narrow corridor through nothern Maldives, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
Totality will be visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Dinajpur, Guwahati, Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shanghai, as well as over the Three Gorges Dam. According to some experts, Taregana[6][7] in Bihar is the "best" place to view the event.
A partial eclipse will be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.