Century's longest annular solar eclipse waves India goodbye at Mizoram

Aizawl: The longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium began at 12:22 p.m. local time Friday at KVK Hill in Saiha town of Southern Mizoram.

Around 50 students and other enthusiasts came to this hillock to witness the celestial spectacle who all became the last persons from India to see the annular eclipse.

James Lalsiamliana, a keen enthusiasts from Aizawl who was amongst the few to witness the spectacle said it was an experience of a lifetime.

An Agriculture scientist by profession James Lalsiamliana has vowed never to miss an eclipse that could be seen from Mizoram.

"Although an annular solar eclipse is not as splendid as a total solar eclipse, it is still quite wonderful. The central part of the sun became dark but the outer rim of the sun was still bright, the sad part was that we could not see the ring in full, the sight was missed by gazers from Saiha, we were expecting a bright ring in the sky. But it was extremely beautiful," James Lalsiamliana said.

In annular solar eclipse, the sun appears as a very bright annulus, which in Latin means 'ring', surrounding the outline of the Moon, giving the appearance of a 'Ring of Fire.' The 'Ring of Fire' was last seen on November 22, 1965 and is predicted to appear again on June 21, 2020.

The path of the annularity in India passed over the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and ours, while the partial phase of eclipse will be visible all over the country, from where we are the photosphere of the sun was covered by the moon but moved on just before forming a ring of fire in the sky.

"The annular eclipse occured at 2:24 p.m and the annular duration was two minutes," James Lalsiamliana said.

Aldrin Malsawmtluanga, Scientific Officer at Mizoram Science Centre said: "This eclipse is different from a total solar eclipse, we saw the disc of the moon's shadow traveling through the disc of the sun's shadow, Mizoram was the last state in India to see the eclipse, but however we could not see the ring of fire."

"The eclipse lasted for 11 minutes at the peak in India, which was first seen in the Southern part of India, starting from Tamil Nadu, and finally ending in the North-East part of the country," Aldrin added.