Total eclipse of sun to be visible in India as partial eclipse on Friday

New Delhi, July 28 : A total eclipse of the sun will occur on Friday afternoon and it will be visible as a partial eclipse throughout India.

In general, the total eclipse will be visible in the region covering northern and eastern parts of North America, Greenland, northern Europe and Asia except Japan.

Considering the earth as a whole, the eclipse begins at 1:34 IST when the shadow of the moon first touches the earth at local sunrise near a point in the North Atlantic Ocean close to New Found land in Canada.

The eclipse ends at 6:08 IST when the moon's shadow finally leaves the earth at local sunset near a point in the Bay of Bengal close to Andaman Nicobar Island.

The total phase begins at 2:53 IST at a point near southeastern coast of Victoria Island in northern Canada.

The total phase ends at 4:50 IST at a point near Xi'an in southeast China.

The greatest phase of the eclipse with magnitude 1.040 occurs at 3:51 IST near a point close to Nadym in northern Russia.

The duration of the total phase at this point is two minutes 30 seconds.

Next total eclipse of the sun will occur on July 22, 2009. The path of the totality of the same eclipse will pass through India.

ANI