Celestial spectacle on August 11

This eclipse, however, passes over very populated (by humans) landmass. It passes over some major cities and misses others by a very narrow margin. It misses London by less than 200 km. People n London will see about 97 per cent of the Sun covered by the Moon. The lunar shadow will miss Paris. it will be 99 per cent eclipse over the City of Lights. The time in India will be 3.53 p.m. It travels between Zurich and Frankfurt in Germany. It then passes Austria and Hungary, passes south of Budapest, crosses Romania and the Black Sea and enters Turkey about 4.50 p.m. Indian time.

In Turkey, it passes north of Ankara. It grazes the north-eastern Syria and then enters Iraq. Baghdad will see only about 95 per cent eclipse. It is a bit too south of the totality belt. In its last lap it enters Iran at about 5.22 p.m. It also misses Teheran passing south of it. Travels over Iran for about half-an-hour and then enters India.

Some major or well known places to fall directly under the shadow of the total eclipse are Reims and Metz in France, Stuttgart and Munich in Germany. Austrian City of Graz will see the totality for nearly 60 seconds. Baja (pronounced Baha) in Hungary has an astronomical observatory. Over Bucuresti in Romania people can see the Sun covered behind the Moon for more than 120 seconds. City of historic significance Esfahan in Iran will witness the eclipse for more than one-and-a-half-minute. The last major city to pass directly under the lunar shadows is Karachi.

The first town on the Indian territory is Lakhpat. The total eclipse of August 11, 1999 begins at 17.58 and totality will last for about 61 seconds. Some of the towns over which the umbral shadow of the Moon will pass are Morvi, Surendranagar, Nadiad (it is just inside the northern limit of the shadow), Anand, Baroda, Jalgaon (it is just inside the southern limit of the shadow), Bhusawal, Burhanpur, Akola, Yavatmal, Wani, Chandrapur, Ballarpur, Jagdalpur, Koraput, Palkonda and Narasannapeth. The shadow then enters the Bay of Bengal.

Mumbai will see 91 per cent, for Pune and Thane it will be 92, Nashik and Aurangabad to see 96, Rajkot to see 98.9 and Amravati to see 99.9 per cent of the Sun covered with the Moon. But to enjoy the total eclipse it has to be 100 per cent of course. These months are of monsoon and this reduces our chance of seeing the total phase even if you are on the totality track. Well, all is not lost. Venus is very close to the Sun now and you should be able to spot it (see below). In Pune the Moon will cover a bit more than 90 per cent of the Sun. And you should not miss the opportunity to watch the partial phase of the eclipse.

There are many safe ways to watch the eclipse. There are special eclipse goggles available in the market. These are made of aluminium deposited on mylar. These are safe to use. You can even use number 14 welding glass to look at the Sun. But as a precaution never look at the Sun, even through a filter for more than 20 seconds or so.

You can make a hole of diameter of 5 mm in a card. It will act as a pin of hole camera, if kept a few meters away from the ground. You can also reflect the image of the Sun into a room. Just place this card on a plane mirror and reflect the light inside a dark room. You can then watch the progress with ease.

Among do nots:- Never use lamp blackened glass to look at the Sun. It is worse than looking at the Sun without any filter. The lamp blackened glass will stop all the light to which our eyes are sensitive but will allow infra red light to pass through. This will cause more harm. The brain will only perceive that the light intensity has dropped down and thus will instruct the iris to open full. This will let more infra-red radiation to fall on the retina. Also do not see the eclipse in the light reflected from water. Not only does water reflect back most of the sunlight it also does not give a steady image of the Sun to look at.

Unsafe filters include all colour film, black and white film that contains no silver, photographic negatives with images on them (X-rays and snapshots), sunglasses (single or multiple pairs), photographic neutral density filters and polarising filters. Most of these transmit high levels of invisible infra-red radiation that can cause a thermal retinal burn.

Please note that if the Sun appears dim, or you feel no discomfort when looking at the Sun through the filter, that is no guarantee that your eyes are safe.

Now two facts related to popular myths. One – the radiation during a solar eclipse is the normal sunlight. There are no such things like special radiation, special germs, bacteria, and viruses, which come out during a solar eclipse. Two – there is no harm whatsoever to a pregnant woman. Many women have seen solar eclipses during pregnancy and given birth to normal babies. I thus, urge you to watch the eclipse – safely and show it to others too. Lastly, some have a tendency to overdo “Andhra Shradha Nirmulan”. I would like to quote my ex-boss, Professor S.N. Tandon of IUCAA. He says he will not fight darkness, he will only light a lamp – the darkness will go away on its own.

The Sky
I give some highlights of the night sky this month. Venus is now almost in the direction of the Sun and will get back in the morning sky towards the beginning of the next month. On the day of the eclipse look for the Venus a few degrees north and a bit east (that is up) of the eclipsed Sun. Even if you are in the partial zone of this eclipse it should be possible for you to spot the planet. Jupiter and Saturn are in Aries. They are fairly above the horizon by the midnight. On 4th and on the 31st the Moon passes within four degrees north of Jupiter. It is also 3 degrees north of Saturn on 2nd. You can see almost half-illuminated Moon south of Mars on 18th. But now watch this planet it is moving from Libra into Scorpious. It will within three degrees of its rival. We will see that next month.