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Annular solar eclipse visible in the morning sky of northern Sri Lanka
View(s):An annular solar eclipse forming a ring of light around the darkened moon will be visible in the Northern part of Sri Lanka on December 26.
Well-known astronomer Anura C. Perera says the eclipse will be visible in Jaffna and is expected to move in a northerly direction.
But those who live in the southern parts of Sri Lanka need not be disheartened. People in areas south of Kilinochchi and Anuradhapura will see about 87 percent of the sun covered by the moon and those in Colombo will see about 84 percent of the phenomenon.
According to Mr. Perera, this annular eclipse starts from Dammam in Saudi Arabia around 8am and will travel across the Indian Ocean towards Southern India and over the Northern part of Sri Lanka and ends at about 12.30 pm above the Pacific Ocean.
“When the eclipse takes place, the moon will be about 400,000 km away from the earth and will be moving at a speed of 1 km per second or 3,600 km per hour,” he said.
This year’s annular eclipse is expected to last for five hours.
The centre line of this annular eclipse in our country runs from Mannar to Vakarai and the eclipse which enters the Island from Mannar will be visible in Jaffna at 9.34 am and is expected to last for four minutes.
“The previous annular eclipse which took place on January 15, 2010 was visible in Jaffna for about 10 minutes,” he said.