Millennium8217;s last total solar eclipse to disappoint scientists

Unlike the 1995 eclipse, there is not much scope for scientific experimentation this time round from India as the total solar eclipse will occur at the fag end of the day and monsoon clouds may mar a clear view of this rare celestial event, V S Ramamurthy, secretary in the Department of Science and Technology DST told PTI.

This time, the moon8217;s shadow will arrive at the western coast of India at 5:58 pm and leave the earth at about 6:06 pm from the Bay of Bengal. The eclipse can be seen in parts of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa.

The totality path extends from Kutch, Surendranagar and Vadodara in Gujrat, passes over South-West Madhya Pradesh, parts of Maharashtra and finally cuts across the South-East to the North of Vishakhapattanam in Andhra Pradesh and Koraput in Orissa.

As the eclipse trace moves into India, the low sun angle, the late hour and extensive cloud formation during the Indian monsoon bring the quot;poorest viewing conditions,quot; according to the National Aerounatics and Space Administration NASA of the United States.

Due to very low observation possibility, the Pune-based Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics IUCAA, which conducted one of the largest experiments in 1995, has not planned any major study this time, IUCAA scientist Somak Raychaudhury said.

Two major laboratories involved in solar physics research, the Indian Institute of Astrophysics IIAP in Bangalore and the Udaipur Solar Observatory in Rajashthan have sent scientists to Iran to conduct experiments.

quot;The IIAP experiment will be carried out at Estahan, 400 km from Tehran, where the duration of totality is about two minutes and the view is expected to be the best in the world,quot; IIAP director Ramnath Cowsik told PTI.

Equipment designed by the IIAP, the imaging photometer, will probe the solar corona 8212; the upper solar atmosphere which becomes visible around a dark sun 8212; during the total solar eclipse.

quot;We will try to collect some data on a puzzling fact: Why is the solar corona many times hotter than the sun8217;s surface?quot; Cowsik said.

The sun8217;s surface temperature is about 6,000 degrees Celsius whereas the temperature of the corona is about two million degrees Celsius.

quot;The second part of the study will be conducted in South Africa during the next total solar eclipse in 2001,quot; Cowsik said.

IIAP is also sending a team to Bhuj to photograph the solar corona during the eclipse.