Solar Eclipse June 2020 Date\, Timings in India; Where will it be visible?

Solar Eclipse June 2020 Date, Timings in India; Where will it be visible?

Solar Eclipse (Surya Grahan 2020) Date, Timings in India: When is the next solar eclipse, List of countries where it will be visible. Here's everything you need to know about the June 21 annular solar eclipse

Solar Eclipse

The first solar eclipse or Surya Grahan for the year 2020 is expected to occur on June 21. A solar eclipse is a phenomenon in which the moon gets between the Earth and the Sun, thus casting a shadow over the Earth. When viewed from Earth a solar eclipse looks like the sun is being covered by a round dark shadow casted by the moon.

The Surya Grahan 2020 will be an annular solar eclipse where the moon will cover the sun from the centre leaving the outer rim visible. Viewers from Earth will see a 'ring of fire' in the sky.

A solar eclipse occurs because the moon is far away from Earth and its relative size is not big enough to entirely cover the sun.

Surya Grahan timings in India

The eclipse starts at one location and ends at another, checkout the Surya Grahan timings in India. (All timings are according to Indian Standard Time (IST))

  •     First location to see the partial eclipse begin: 09:15:58
  •     First location to see the full eclipse begin: 10:17:45
  •     Maximum Eclipse: 12:10:04
  •     Last location to see the full eclipse end: 14:02:17
  •     Last location to see the partial eclipse end: 15:04:01

Surya Grahan 2020: Where to view in India

North Indian states such as Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttarakhand will get to witness the full annular solar eclipse while the rest of the country will only get to see a partial solar eclipse.

Dehradun, Kurukshetra, Sirsa are some of the major North Indian cities from which the full solar eclipse would be visible. While other major cities like Delhi, Lucknow, Bangalore, Chennai will get to observe a partial solar eclipse.

"In India, the obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of the annular eclipse will be nearly 98.6 per cent. Obscuration of the Sun by the Moon at the time of greatest phase of partial eclipse will be around 94 per cent in Delhi, 80 per cent in Guwahati, 78 per cent in Patna, 75 per cent in Silchar, 66 per cent in Kolkata, 62 per cent in Mumbai, 37 per cent in Bangalore, 34 per cent in Chennai, 28 per cent in Port Blair etc," according to Press Information Bureau, Government of India, press release.

Internationally, parts of Africa, Pakistan, China and the Middle-East will also be able to observe the solar eclipse.

This solar eclipse will be the first one of two eclipses that are expected to occur in 2020. The second and last solar eclipse of this year will be observed on December 14.