Tamil Nadu to witness partial solar eclipse on June 21

Several parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai is set to witness a partial solar eclipse on Sunday.

Solar eclipse. (Photo | EPS) 

CHENNAI: Well, who wouldn’t want the Sun to take a chill pill and be in a hideout for a while? If you wished for it, it’s happening on June 21. Several parts of Tamil Nadu, including Chennai is set to witness a partial solar eclipse on Sunday.

“Although only a partial phase of the eclipse will be visible in Chennai, at maximum eclipse, 34% of the Sun’s disk will be covered by the Moon,” said S Soundararajaperumal, Executive Director of Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre.

The country had witnessed the last annular eclipse on December 26, 2019 and the next will be visible only in May 2031, he said. While the State witnesses a partial eclipse, the annular phase would be visible in parts of northern India, such as Chamoli, Dehradun, Joshimath, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, and Suratgarh.
Stay safe

Soundararajaperumal advises on the precautions one must take while curiosity takes the driver’s seat:

• Never look directly at the eclipse. It could cause permanent injury or loss of sight.
• Use binoculars or small telescope mounted on a tripod to project a magnified image of the Sun on a white card.

CHENNAI

Eclipse begins at 10:22 am
Ends at 1.41 pm
Maximum eclipse at 11:58 am