Catch eclipse early in Surat or clearly in Patna

“After analysing the weather pattern of the last 20 years,it seems places like Patna and Varanasi would offer good viewing prospects. With several eclipse chasers from India and across the world eyeing this event,hotels and guesthouses in places like Patna are likely to be fully booked in advance,” said Dr Piyush Pandey,director of the Nehru Planetarium in Mumbai.

Pandey himself will travel to Varanasi. The planetarium has lined up eclipse watch programmes for stargazers who will stay in Mumbai.

The Indian Planetary Society will organise guided trips from Mumbai to Surat and Patna. Dr J J Rawal,who heads the society’s Mumbai office in Borivli,said it was too early to put a figure to number of stargazers interested in witnessing the event. “We are still planning our itinerary and inviting people to register,” he said.

Among the most expensive programmes is a special Jetlite flight organised by Cox and Kings. The flight,which will take off on an airborne observation from Delhi at 4.30 am,will cost Rs 79,000 for a sun-side seat,Rs 67,000 for a middle seat,Rs 59,000 for an aisle seat and Rs 29,000 for an earth-side seat.

The total eclipse will begin at 6.21 am in Surat,soon after sunrise at 6.08 am. It will stay there for 3 minutes 17 seconds and head northeast. It will span a roughly 200-km-wide belt stretching from Surat,passing through Vadodara,Indore,Bhopal,Varanasi,Patna,Darjeeling and leaving India after Dibrugarh.

The Met department in Mumbai said the eclipse will not have any major effect on the tidal waves and weather of the region.

“The moon’s shadow will affect the solar radiation on earth for only a few hours. It is unlikely that the eclipse will have any other influence on the weather,” said Dr R V Sharma,deputy director general of IMD.