Chennai: The Tamilnadu Science and Technology Centre has said the annular phase of the solar eclipse will be visible in places like Chamoli, Dehradun, Joshimath, Kurukshetra, Sirsa, Suratgarh in northern India on 21 June. In Tamilnadu, partial phase will be visible.
According to Executive Director of the centre Dr S Soundararajaperumal, in Chennai, only partial phase of the eclipse will be visible. However at maximum eclipse, 34 per cent of the disk of the sun will be covered by the moon. In Chennai, the eclipse begins at 10.22 am and ends at 1.41 pm.
Maximum eclipse will be at 11.58 am. It is unsafe to look at the sun directly. Even during partial or annular eclipse one should not attempt to view the sun without any eye protection. Permanent eye injury or loss of eyesight will result.
The safest and most inexpensive method for observing the sun, is by projection. Binoculars or a small telescope mounted on a tripod can also be used to project a magnified image of the sun onto a white card, but care must be taken to ensure that no one looks through the device.
The main advantage of the projection methods is that nobody is looking directly at the sun. The sun can only be viewed directly when filters specially designed to protect the eyes are used. One of the most widely available filters for safe solar viewing is shade number 14 welder glass, which can be obtained from welding supply outlets.