Indore: A rare celestial event, total solar eclipse, will be witnessed on Sunday, but this unique astronomical incident involving sun, moon and earth will not be visible from India due to the dark night (Amavasya ki raat).
"The total solar eclipse will be visible in the South Pacific Ocean area and also from South American countries like Argentina and Chile," Ujjain`s Jiwaji Observatory`s superintendent, Dr Rajendra Prakash Gupt told a news agency.
According to the Indian Standard Time the solar eclipse will begin from 10.39 pm and will end at 03.27 am lasting for nearly five hours during which sun, moon and earth will be visible in a unique astronomical role.
The eclipse will reach at its peak at 1.03 am, Gupt said adding during that time there will be total darkness on the earth. This situation will last for 05.25 minutes, he said.
Total solar eclipse occurs when between sun and the earth, moon comes in such a way that it totally covers sun behind it.
Total solar eclipse in Easter Island
Tourists and scientists poured onto remote and mysterious Easter Island ahead of Sunday`s solar eclipse, a mixed blessing of sorts for the tiny Pacific outpost.
An estimated 4,000 tourists, scientists, photographers, filmmakers and journalists flocked to the Chilean island of only 160 square kilometers (60 square miles) on Saturday, doubling the population of the barren isle that already suffers from water pollution and deforestation.
Conditions are anything but normal on Easter Island, deemed by astronomers the best place to witness Sunday`s alignment of sun, moon and Earth for a fleeting four minutes and 41 seconds.
Some weather forecasts, however, warn of cloudy skies -- potentially dashing hopes of a clear view here.
The total solar eclipse will begin at 1815 GMT, when the umbra or shadow falls on the South Pacific about 700 kilometers (440 miles) southeast of Tonga, according to veteran NASA eclipse specialist, Fred Espanak.
It will then zip in an easterly arc across the Pacific, eventually cloaking Easter Island and its mysterious giant statues at around 2011 GMT.
Parts of the globe will be plunged into daytime darkness along a narrow corridor some 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) long across the South Pacific.
And the eclipse, in Tahiti for example, has a chance of upstaging even the start of the World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands in South Africa at 1830 GMT.
Bureau Report/PTI
