Scientists in the city are gearing up for a once in a century experience. They plan to observe and study the century’s total longest solar eclipse that will take place on July 22. It is expected to last for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. Some scientists will be flying to Shanghai to watch the rare phenomenon, as the city is likely to have a longer eclipse of duration four minutes. Other scientists are flocking to various cities in the country which will witness total solar eclipse.
In Gujarat, Surat will be the first to witness the eclipse at around 6.21am, while Vadodara, and Bhavnagar in the state will get to see total solar eclipse. The other cities in the country which will get to see total solar eclipse is Indore, Bhopal, Jabalpur, Allahabad, Varanasi and Patna. Ahmedabad will get to see 98% eclipse. The next such total solar eclipse is expected to take place in 2034.
Tanmay Vyas, national committee member of World Space Week is planning to go to Patna or Varanasi where he can have a clear view of the total solar eclipse. “Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh can be avoided as far as watching the eclipse is concerned as the sun would be at a low horizon during early morning. Moreover there are chances of clouds due to the monsoon. If it does not work out well here, we might go to Shanghai which offers better prospects to view the eclipse,” said Vyas.
He and his team of about 17 people are planning to undertake many observations during this time.
“Shadow measurement, judging and measuring the health of the sun through corona which is visible during totality and observing Bailey’s Bead (one of the phases of eclipse) are some of the activities planned. We will be recording the observation through movie and digital camera,” he said. Dr Satyendra Bhandari, a retired scientist from Isro has done a lot of observation during various such eclipses and this time too he looks forward to it. Bhandari plans to go to Indore for a clear view.
“For me, eclipse is an event more on Earth than on Sun or Moon. I would like to observe what kind of changes would take place on the earth, stratosphere and ionosphere when the solar radiation is blocked for few minutes,” said Bhandari. “Birds and animals would be confused by the change and they will consider the phase as night,” said Bhandari. He and his team recently carried out many workshops in Delhi, Kolkata and Patna to educate people about the solar eclipse and remove the myths surrounding it.
Senior scientist at Gujarat Science City, Dr Narottam Sahoo said they will be selecting 25 students in the age group of 10 to 18 years from different schools in the city to be sent to Madhya Pradesh’s path of eclipse. “We will be assigning them projects specifically related to solar eclipse. This is basically to inculcate a scientific temperament in them,” he said.
