The millennium’s longest annular solar eclipse starts today in India, around 11 a.m. and end around 3.15 p.m. The eclipse will first be seen in the south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then move to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It will also pass through Mizoram in the northeast. Delhi will see a partial solar eclipse.
The last time India saw this Ring of Fire was Nov 22, 1965, and it will not be witnessed again before June 21, 2020. The maximum duration of the eclipse will be 11 minutes, 8 seconds over the Indian Ocean, thus making it the longest annular eclipse of the millennium. The safest way of viewing a total solar eclipse is through the method of projection. But another way is to use the kitchen sieve, Rathnashree explains – hold the sieve just above the ground, tilting its face towards the sun. Moving the sieve a little away from the ground, one can see an image of the sun forming, which will show the eclipse when it occurs.