Hyderabadi's can watch a spectacular annular eclipse on Thursday

Hyderabad: Hyderabadis be ready to experience the maximum obscuration solar eclipse on Thursday.

This Boxing Day phenomenon will be the final and annular solar eclipse of the year. Once the moon crosses the sun, it will cover the sun and sun will be visible in the form of a golden ring, which is known as annular eclipse.

What is Maximum obscuration Solar Eclipse ?

Mr N Sri Ragunandan, Director of Planetary Society of India, while speaking to NewsMeter said, “After a span of 10 years, we are going to experience the maximum obscuration solar eclipse. This means maximum part of the sun will be covered by the moon and only a ring will be visible. This is likely to occur only after another 10 years.”

People from the city can easily experience the solar eclipse with their naked eye. However, Mr Ragunandan cautions against watching directly with the eye. People can watch the shadow of the eclipse falling on their walls.

He gives a technique to do so.

“You can make a small hole in the centre of the paper and facing towards the wall, ensure that you hold the paper so that the light of the sun passes through the paper’s hole and you can see the shadow of the eclipse on the wall.”

He added that welding glass of Grade no.14 can also be used to watch the eclipse, while x-ray films and binoculars could damage the retina.

According to him, “For the city folk, December 26 will be like any other normal day until 8am. But by 9:30am, it will appear like evening as 74 percent of sun will be covered by the moon. The splendid skyline and the climatic conditions can be cherished for a long time.”

Birla Science Planetarium Director, Dr BG Siddarth said “We will try to organize a special show about the solar eclipse in our observatory, including how an eclipse occurs.”

Live coverage of solar eclipse can be seen on Slooh.com and Tharulowa Digital Youtube Channel.