Students, seasoned eclipse-watchers get spectacular view of ring of fire in Kerala

The Cheruvathur panchayat president, Madhavan Maniyara, served biscuits and tea to guests. "It was a small step to prove that eating during a solar eclipse was harmless," he said.
Tourists from the UK observing the annular solar eclipse at Bekal beach in Kasaragod I (Photo: EPS)
Tourists from the UK observing the annular solar eclipse at Bekal beach in Kasaragod I (Photo: EPS)

KASARAGOD: South India stood in awe as the Moon blocked the view of the Sun for around three full minutes, forming a ring of fire in the dark sky, on Thursday.

"I have seen a solar eclipse on YouTube. But this was spectacular," said Unnimaya P T, a class VII student of Government Higher Secondary School, Kuttamath near Cheruvathur in Kasaragod district. "I have not seen anything like it," said her friend and classmate Rudraveena K.

The hilltop school's vast ground with a clear horizon was the perfect venue to watch the celestial glory.

Around 3,000 people, including residents, astro tourists and scientists, had their eyes glued to the sky.

The annular (or ring) eclipse was visible in a 120km-wide band in South India, grazing places such as Mangaluru, Nileshwar, Kannur, Wayanad, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Karaikudi, and Tondi in Tamil Nadu, before crossing over to Bay of Bengal, said technical assistant, Justin Joseph of the Regional Science Centre and Planetarium in Kozhikode.

The centre set up seven eclipse view centres in Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasaragod district for the public. "Wayanad was cloudy and people missed the ring of fire in many places. In Kalpeta, people got to see it for half a minute," he said. Joseph was at Meenangadi in Wayanad and missed the show.

The best viewing of the solar eclipse in Kerala was in Kannur and Kasaragod district, he said.

Unlike during a total solar eclipse, the New Moon was further away from the Earth and the apparent smaller moon cannot completely cover the Sun. It leaves out a narrow band of Sun in the periphery, which manifests as the ring of fire.

The new Moon started crossing the path of the Sun and the Earth at 8.04 am in Kasaragod; the perfect ring of fire was formed at 9.24 am, and lasted it 9.27 -- for around 3 minutes and 6 seconds; and the partial eclipse ended at 11.04 am. The celestial activity lasted for three hours.  

"We watched the eclipse from the Kappil Beach near Bekal. I felt a sudden chill when the light faded out. When the moon started moving away from the sun, the temperature was up again," said Jijo P Ulahannan, assistant professor, Department of Physics, Government College, Kasaragod.

Volunteers of Space India, an organisation popularising astronomy and space sciences, found that the temperature dipped by one degree Celsius to 27, and after the eclipse, the mercury rose to 28.4 degrees Celsius. They took the reading at the Kuttamath hilltop, far from the beach.

"Interestingly, the wind speed which was in the range of 0.4 to 0.8 metres per second dropped to 0 during the ring of fire," said Tarun Sharma, the leader of the Space India team, which was measuring various weather parameters during the eclipse at the school.

The fast-forwarding of time to 'late evening' confused the birds, said Kaustub Mulay, a wildlife photographer from Pune. He was accompanying six astronomy enthusiasts from London, Sheffield and Bristol in the UK to watch the annular eclipse at Thaikadapuram beach in Nileshwar.

Before the eclipse started, Mulay saw woodpeckers, brahminy kites and bee-eaters hovering around on the beach. "But when the light faded out, they stopped their flight and perched on the casuarina and coconut trees. There was no chirping either," said Mulay.

Choudary D Voleti (79), a retired cardiologist who flew down from Hawaii, was chirpy. "Now photography and tennis keep me busy," said the doctor. This is his second solar eclipse," he said. On August 21, 2017, he watched a total solar eclipse at Jackson Hole, a valley in Wyoming state of the US. "The ring of fire is a first for me," he said.

Dr Voleti used a powerful lens to capture crisp images of the Baily's beads effect. 

The effect is formed on the ring of fire when the peaks of mountains on the moon's surface block the sunlight from passing through. The intermittent silhouette and light create an effect of beads on the ring. "The beads were clearer at Jackson Hole," he said.

Cheruvathur panchayat made use of the solar eclipse to debunk some myths. The panchayat president, Madhavan Maniyara, who bought 2000 eclipse-watching shades for visitors to Kuttamath school, also served biscuits and tea to guests. "It was a small step to prove that eating during a solar eclipse was harmless," he said.

Sharma of Space India said several schools in Delhi used to give holidays during eclipses. "But in Kerala, schools opened even during Christmas vacation to celebrate and educate people on the celestial activities," he said.

Sharma said many people from north India came to the South to watch the annular eclipse. "Next year on June 21, there will be an annular solar eclipse in North India. You all should make a trip to watch that," he said.

The annual eclipse would be clearly visible at Gharsana in Rajasthan, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, Sirsa in Haryana and Tehri in Uttarakhand.

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