Annular Solar Eclipse Jan 15, 2010 - Initative of SPACE

Report of ASE 2010

2010-01-20T23:28:00.001-08:00

SPACE – ASE REPORT, JAN 15, 2010

The Annular Solar Eclipse which gained popularity as the Millennium's longest duration eclipse and as the 'Ring of Fire', occurred on Jan 15, 2010. SPACE (Science Popularization Association of Communicators and Educators) and ECa (Eclipse Chasers Athenaeum) celebrated this with events around India including public eclipse watches, scientific and educational expeditions and a cruise to Maldives.

Pictures of the ASE taken by SPACE teams can be seen at:

www.picasaweb.google.co.in/organisationspace

Recordings of the webcast of the ASE provided by the SPACE team from Varkala is available at on USTREAM at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/annular-solar-eclipse-january-15th-2010

Following events and projects were executed by SPACE group during the ASE 2010

I. Pre-Eclipse Workshops, Delhi, 10^th Jan, 2010

Space organized an eclipse workshop for all the schools at Delhi and NCR on 10^th Jan 2010 from 9:30am to 2 pm. This workshop was held at a nodal point i.e. Nehru Planetarium for the maximum accessibility of all the space schools. The workshop began with a power point presentation that included all the basic facts about the eclipse. This presentation also explained the circumstances especially for the annular eclipse and why this eclipse is longest in three millenniums. Presentation included many rare and beautiful pictures that made the audience really excited to watch the upcoming solar eclipse. It also talked about the safe methods to watch any solar eclipse. This was followed by a demonstration and hand on the safe methods to watch the eclipse. All the safe as well unsafe equipments were shown to the audience and the explanation for using them was given thoroughly to the participants. Audience also came to know about the Do’s and Don’ts during a solar eclipse. The entire workshop had a continuous focus on breaking the superstitions and myths during an eclipse. The SPACE team could really see the eagerness and excitement for the upcoming solar eclipse on all the participants’ faces at the end of the workshop.

II. Pre-Eclipse Talk by Prof. Jay Pasachoff, 11^th Jan 2010

SPACE and Nehru Planetarium jointly organized an interaction and talk with noted eclipse expert, Prof. Jay Pasachoff, field memorial professor of Astronomy and director of Hopkins Observatory at Nehru Planetarium on 11^th Jan, 2010. More than 170 students and 30 space club school coordinators attended as Prof. Pasachoff shared his eclipse experiences. It was very interesting interaction between the students and Prof. Pasachoff. He cleared their doubts about eclipses. It was indeed a great opportunity for students to interact with the top most authority in solar eclipses in the world. Electronic and print media persons were there to cover the event.

III. Public Watches in Delhi/NCR for ASE, 15^th Jan 2010

SPACE teams conducted public solar eclipse watches in Delhi. A watch was held at Nehru Planetarium. The observations in SPACE schools in delhi and NCR went off well as most of the schools arranged the eclipse watch. Hillwoods academy, Ahalcon school, and Apeejay Pitampura and had big crowd of students and teachers to view the eclipse. Reports from other schools are awaited. Students of Salwan Public school and St. Mary’s observed the eclipse from the planetarium.

IV. SPACE Nodal Centers (SNCs), 15^th Jan 2010

SNC's accross the nation had organised successful solar eclipse watches in the institutions. Deepak Sharma of SNC Meerut went to Kanyakumari to observe the eclipse and did outreach activities with eager public there. Ashutosh Tripathi of SNC Indore, joined the team of SPACE in Varkala and did eclipse photography. More reports from other SNC’s are awaited.

V. VARKALA, KERALA, 15^th Jan 2010

In Varkala, Kerala which is at the Northern edge of the Annular Eclipse, SPACE held several projects in an effort to address different aspects of the eclipse. These included a public watch, educational experiments with school children and a scientific team’s attempts to capture Baily’s Beads.

a. Varkala - Public Watch

A public watch was held at the scenic helipad location on a cliff overlooking the beach, and the public were treated to vistas of the eclipse over the ocean. About 800 people showed up at the helipad area to catch a glimpse! Science teams from SPACE led the observations and explained the stages as well as provided people with solar goggles. Shikha Chanana and Mr. Ved Prakash Bahmba explained the phenomenon and showed safe ways to view the eclipse to the eager crowd comprising of locals and foreign tourists there.

b. Varkala - Educational Experiments

A team of about 10 school students were led by SPACE science officer Tanmay Paranjpaye into performing several real time experiments during the eclipse. The students ranged from third graders to college students, and hailed from Delhi, Shimla and Hyderabad. Experiments ranged from measurements of temperature, humidity and ambient light variations as well as radio frequency measurements before during and after the eclipse. These experiments were instrumental in involving the school children in real time experimentation and data collection.

Detailed Report

Students performed the experiments on 14^th Jan 2010 (Pre-Eclipse day), 15^th Jan 2010 (Eclipse day). Pre eclipse and Post eclipse day readings served as the reference to check the magnitude of variations observed.

1. Variation of Air Temperature and Humidity.

This experiment was performed at two altitudes by students using digital Hygrometer and Thermometer.

1a. At 2m above ground (by Gautam Sharma, Hyderabad Public School):

Pre eclipse day -

Humidity: almost constant 58 to 59%

Temperature: almost constant ranging from 33 to 35 degree C.

Eclipse Day -

Temperature : Dropped from 32 to 25.6 deg C during annularity and went up again to 33.4 deg C.

Humidity: Max. 56%, During annularity 54% and Min. 48%

1b. 10m above ground (Shashank Shekhar and Pallavi Mamgain The airforce school subroto park, delhi)

Pre-Eclipse Day -

Temperature: almost constant ranging from 30 to 32 degree C.

Humidity: almost constant 66 to 67%

Eclipse Day -

Temperature: Dropped from 32 to 28.3 deg C during annularity and went up again to 32 deg C.

Humidity: Max. 64%, During annularity 62 to 63% and Min. 54%

2. Variation of Wind Speed

2a. 2m above ground (Sidharth Raj Agarwal, Birla Vidya Niketan delhi)

Apparatus used was a digital anemometer. Observed changes:

Pre- Eclipse Day – Wind Speed: Max. 2.6 m/s , Min. 0.7 m/s

Eclipse Day - Wind Speed: Max. 5.8 m/s, During Annularity 0.1 m/s and Min. 0.1m/s .

2b. 10m above ground (Shashank Shekhar and Pallavi Mamgain The airforce school subroto park, delhi)

Pre-Eclipse day - Wind Speed : Max. 3.6 m/s, Min. 0.3 m/s

Eclipse Day - Wind Speed: Max. 3.3 m/s, During annularity 0.2 to 1.4 m/s and Min. 0.2 m/s

3. Variation of Ambient Brightness (Praful Sharma, Alcon Public School)

3a. 2m above the ground.

Apparatus used was a digital Luxmeter. Observed changes:

Pre eclipse day - Ambient Light: Max. 1839*20000 Lux , Min. 168*20000 Lux

Eclipse Day - Ambient Light : Max. 1460*20000 Lux, During Annularity 80 to 130*20000 Lux and Min. 80* 20000 Lux.

The rest of the students (Chhavi, Asmi, Sharmishtha and Dhananjay ) belonged to standard Jr KG to 3^rdof Indraprastha world school, Paschim Vihar, Delhi. They were involved in visual observations of the eclipse and drawing the various phases of the eclipse.

4. Radio Measurements

Tushar, a member of Astronomica and a student volunteer with SPACE, monitored the Sun at 20 MHz with SPACEs Radio Jove receiver assembled by him as team member under SPACE project and Dipole antenna for three days, starting a day before the eclipse and ending a day after. He got some interesting results correlated to the large sunspot group present on the Sun on the eclipse day.

Varkala - Scientific Team captured Baily’s Beads

Report from Scientific Team, Varkala, Kerala, ASE 2010, SPACE

It certainly seems like the efforts of SPACE team in choosing Varkala, Kerala as the place for observing ASE 2010 paid off. While many people prefer to go to the centre line of the eclipse to see the perfect do-nut like Sun (about 10-11 minutes duration for this eclipse), SPACE chose to go to the near the northern grazing zone of the eclipse just 3 KM inside the interior limit of the graze zone where the phenomenon of Baily's Beads - the beautiful, rapidly changing beads of light formed as the lunar mountains graze past the surface of the Sun and the light from the photosphere shines through the lunar valleys - would be most dynamic and prolonged (ref: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/reference/graze.html) while still giving an Annularity of 2 minutes 56 seconds (after correcting for lunar limb profile). The observation of Bailys Beads from the edge of the eclipse path also helps in accurately determining the size of the Lunar shadow and thereby accurately determining the diameter of the Sun (method: http://weblore.com/richard/Solareclipse.htm).

SPACE ASE 2010 Scientific Team was located at the roof of hotel Sanctum Spring beach resort (08° 44' 09."3 N, 76° 42' 18.0" E) near the Helipad, Varkala. The team comprised of Vikrant Narang, Chander Bhushan Devgun, Mila Mitra and Surendar Solanki. They were assisted by the technical team of Mani and satish.

Here are preliminary reports of Experiments and Photography:

1) Video Recording Baily's Beads at High Time and Pixel Resolution:
Equipment Used: Cannon 500D DSLR at prime focus behing 10" Meade LX200 telescope.

Focal Length: 2500mm,

Resolution: Full HD (1920px X 1080 px),

Frame Rate: 20 Frames per second,

Filter: Black Polymer filter from Thousand Oaks Opticals.

Timing recording method: Beeper Sync Software and Verbal Announcement by Looking at GPS Screen.

The setup successfully recorded spectacular video of beading phenomenon at a very high resolution. The beading can be seen in the video for over 1m 30sec before second contact and over 1m after 3rd contact. This hi definition footage can be termed as the first one ever taken from India by group of astronomers apart from the research institutions working in this field.

The feed from this was streamed live intermittently on Aaj Tak TV channel as an exclusive coverage.

Two exciting possibilities are being considered to analyze the data:
a) See how the data can be used to help the research by IOTA to measure the Solar Diameter

b) Co-relate the lunar limb profile generated from beading phenomenon with Kaguya lunar limb profile. (method: http://www.digitalsky.org.uk/3cls/3cls.html)

2) Photography of the Eclipse
Equipment Used: Cannon 450D DSLR at prime focus behind 110mm dia/700mm fl William Optics Refractor Telescope piggy backed in 10" Meade LX200 telescope.

Filter: Black Polymer filter from Thousand Oaks Opticals.

Software used: Images Plus

The annularity was shot with filters on.

Images of the eclipse have been uploaded at:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/organisationspace

3) Webcast

A live webcast was shown on www.eclipsechasers.org

1.3 mp webcam was linked to a 50mm achromat with 300mm fl and it was streamed live on the www.ustream.tv In all 106876 views were recorded on the website making it the most viewed site on the day of the eclipse for webcast on ustream in eclipse webcasts. Most of the TV channels used the webcast to shoe the eclipse from Varkala!!

4) HD Video of the eclipse with a Handy Cam

HD Video of the whole eclipse duration was shot with sony handycam mounted on meade lx200 10” at 1920x1080 pixels resolution. Soon the whole footage will be available online.

VI. SPACE at Dhanushkodi, Tamilnadu

SPACE C.M.D. Mr. Sachin Bahmba travelled from varkala, kerala especially to Dhanushkodi to meet Tamilnadu Governor Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala and to show him the ASE. Mr. Bahmba showed the eclipse to the Governor and other dignitaries. Lt. Governer of Pondicherry Mr. Iqbal singh also was treated to the rare phenomenon of annularity. Lot of police personnel and public viewed the eclipse from the 76mm telescope with special filters mounted for eclipse viewing.

VII. FIRST ECLIPSE CRUISE FROM KOCHI TO MALDIVES, 13-16^th Jan 2010

STEPL (SPACE Technology and Education Private Ltd.) partnered with Luis Cruises India to take an avid crowd of passengers aboard the luxury liner Aquamarine from Kochi to Maldives and back to view the Annular Solar Eclipse. Over 650 people were on board to enjoy the ships amenities as well as star parties and navigational tips. The eclipse was viewed from the docked point close to Male, which is along the Central annularity line therefore a great view of the Annular Eclipse was observed by about 100 people, although the clouds made only 1 min 20 sec of the eclipse visible. This eclipse cruise was a first time path breaking concept in India. This innovative feat has now placed SPACE in the unique position of having organized eclipse watches from Earth, sky and now Water. Mr Amit Verma, Preshanth J, Shubham Garg and Mrs Pooja Kumar were part of the SPACE team which interacted with passengers and showed them the eclipse.

VIII. ECLIPSE CRUISE ABOARD VRINDA, 14-15^th Jan 2010

STEPL also partnered with the Oberoi Vessel Vrinda to take people aboard a motor cruise starting at Vembanad Lake and travelled along the backwaters of Kerala to show them the eclipse from the water. Guests were assisted in photographing and observing the eclipse by Mr. Nikhil Pawar, scientific officer.

IX. POST ECLIPSE INTERACTION WITH PROF. PASACHOFF, 18^th Jan 2010

SPACE had set up an interaction session with Prof. Jay Pasachoff at Apeejay Pritampura School, where he gave the students a presentation on ‘Eclipses and experiences’, and the students interacted with him after that via a questions and answers session. The SPACE team also shot a documentary footage of him covering his experiences.

ECLIPSE OBSERVATIONS FROM SPACE REGINAL CENTRES:

SPACE regional centres in Hyderabad, Banglore and Kolkata also organized public observations on the day of the eclipse to make general public aware of the event. Detailed reports are awaited.

All India radio did a talk show on the eclipse on 15 january, 2010 in which President SPACE, C B Devgun, discussed various ways to see the eclipse safely.

Appendix:

Pictures of the ASE taken by SPACE teams can be seen at:

www.picasaweb.google.co.in/organisationspace

Recordings of the webcast of the ASE provided by the SPACE team from Varkala is available at www.ustream.tv

For details contact

Mila Mitra

Scientific Officer

SPACE

9971641274

SPACE Scientific team set up base in varkala

2010-01-12T07:24:00.000-08:00

SPACE Scientific team established is base at varkala 8.733°N 76.717°E today in the evening. Vikrant Narang along with Mani and satish did a rekke of the resort and are about to decide on the place for experiments.

Map for SPACE india gate observation on 15th January

2010-01-12T02:38:00.001-08:00

Map for SPACE india gate observation on 15th January

experiments and events by SPACE

2010-01-12T02:01:00.001-08:00

Scientific and Outreach Teams from SPACE, its sister organisations, SPACE club schools and Space Nodal Centres will do the following:

Photographic experiments by SPACE team

At Varkala 8 °44'7"N 76°42'16"E

HD Video of the Baily’s beads with Canon 500d attached to Meade lx200 gps 10” f/10 at Prime focus.

Imagery of Baily’s beads with canon 450d at the prime focus of William optics APO 110mm f/7 OTA

Video recording of the eclipse through the Coronado PST 40mm with webcam attached at prime focus.

Webcast of the Eclipse throught 50mm f/6 achromat assembly coupled with webcam

Whole eclipse in one frame on 18mm lens Nikon d80.

At cruise to Maldives:

Whole eclipse in one frame on 18mm lens canon 450d

Webcast of the eclipse with 50mm f/6 system with webcam

At dhanushkodi 9°10'53"N 79°24'47"E

By SPACE outreach team

Imaging the eclipse in one frame by Space Nodal Centre, Meerut

Physical experiments during the eclipse:

Air temperature and Humidity variation

To observe and record the variation of Air temperature and Humidity at 3 levels, Graound level, above 2m and above 10 m.

Wind speed variation

To observe and record the variation of wind speed at 2 levels, above 2 m and above 10m level.

Soil temperature variation

To observe and record the variation of soil temperature.

Ambient light variation

To observe and record the variation of ambient light through luxmeter.

Public Outreach programmes:

Delhi:

At Nehru Planetarium, Teen Murti House 10:30 am to 3:45 PM

At India Gate Lawns, New Delhi 10:30 am to 3:45 PM

Observations by Students in SPACE club schools in Delhi and NCR

DhanushKodi

Outreach programme by SPACE outreach team and Space Nodal Centre, Meerut

Space Nodal Centres across India

Public Observations at Space Nodal Centres in Jaipur, Bhopal, mandi Dabhwali, Meerut, Jhansi, Patna,

Varkala

Public Observation near Helipad at Varkala by SPACE outreach team

Cruise to Maldives 4°10'25"N 73°30'31"E

Eclipse Observation for cruise passengers by SPACE outreach team

Cruise in Wembnad Lake 9°35'30"N 76°23'29"E

Eclipse observations for passengers

UPDATES

2010-01-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Timing of Annular eclipse for diffrent cities in INDIA

2010-01-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

TABLE OF ANNULAR PHASE OF CERTAIN PLACES IN INDIA
FOR ANNULAR ECLIPSE ON JANUARY 15, 2010

Place	Annularity begins (second contact) (I.S.T.)	Greatest Phase (I.S.T.)	Annularity ends (third contact) (I.S.T.)	Duration of Annularity
Kanayakumari	13h 10m 09.5s	13h 15m 08.6s	13h 20m 07.8s	9m 58s
Karaikal	13h 21m 00.2s	13h24m 48.8s	13h 28m 37.5s	7m 37s
Madurai	13h 18m 44.9s	13h 20m 14.2s	13h 21m 43.4s	2m 58s
Nagapattinam	13h 20m 39.4s	13h 24m 38.6s	13h 28m 37.8s	7m 58s
Nagercoil	13h 09m 47.1s	13h 14m 35.5s	13h 19m 24.0s	9m 37s
Rameswaram	13h 16m 41.0s	13h 21m 44.9s	13h 26m 48.9s	10m 08s
Sivaganga	13h 17m 37.3s	13h 22m 35.0s	13h 27m 32.8s	9m 56s
Tanjore	13h 20m 33.1s	13h 23m 34.8s	13h 26m 36.5s	6m 03s
Trivandrum	13h 10m 50.8s	13h 14m 28.5s	13h 18m 06.2s	7m 15s
Thiruvarur	13h 20m 33.1s	13h 24m 16.6s	13h 28m 00.0s	7m 27s
Tiruneveli	13h 12m 25.0s	13h 16m 47.8s	13h 21m 10.6s	8m 46s

Eclipse timings for partial eclipse in INDIA

2010-01-04T22:08:00.001-08:00

Courtesy Positional Astronomy Centre Kolkata

Place	Eclipse Begins (I.S.T.)	Greatest Phase (I.S.T.)	Magnitude	Eclipse Ends (I.S.T.)
Agartala	12h 16.3m	14h 03.0m	0.856	15h 31.6m
Ahmedabad	11h 27.2m	13h 22.3m	0.563	15h 03.5m
Aizawl	12h 19.6m	14h 05.0m	0.881	15h 32.7m
Ajmer	11h 41.7m	13h 31.2m	0.531	15h 06.8m
Allahabad	11h 56.7m	13h 47.5m	0.665	15h 21.0m
Amritsar	11h 55.7m	13h 35.0m	0.443	15h 03.0m
Bangalore	11h 16.5m	13h 23.5m	0.846	15h 11.1m
Bhagalpur	12h 08.5m	13h 57.0m	0.755	15h 27.7m
Bhopal	11h 40.5m	13h 35.7m	0.635	15h 14.0m
Bhubaneswar	11h 56.6m	13h 51.2m	0.840	15h 26.1m
Cannanore	11h 07.0m	13h 15.5m	0.831	15h 06.4m
Chandigarh	11h 57.5m	13h 39.4m	0.488	15h 08.5m
Chennai	11h 25.4m	13h 30.5m	0.891	15h 15.2m
Cochin	11h 05.7m	13h 14.9m	0.886	15h 06.0m
Cooch Behar	12h 15.8m	14h 01.5m	0.772	15h 30.0m
Cuttack	11h 57.1m	13h 51.5m	0.835	15h 26.2m
Darjeeling	12h 14.3m	14h 00.0m	0.737	15h 28.7m
Dehra Dun	11h 59.0m	13h 41.9m	0.513	15h 11.4m
Delhi	11h 53.2m	13h 39.1m	0.531	15h 11.0m
Dibrugarh	12h 28.8m	14h 09.4m	0.834	15h 33.9m
Dwarka	11h 15.9m	13h 10.3m	0.524	14h 54.2m
Gandhinagar	11h 28.2m	13h 23.0m	0.562	15h 03.8m
Gangtok	12h 15.5m	14h 00.6m	0.737	15h 28.9m
Gaya	12h 03.0m	13h 53.2m	0.731	15h 25.5m
Guwahati	12h 20.6m	14h 04.8m	0.812	15h 31.9m
Hardwar	11h 58.2m	13h 41.9m	0.521	15h 11.9m
Hazaribagh	12h 02.1m	13h 53.1m	0.752	15h 25.9m
Hubli	11h 14.4m	13h 20.2m	0.756	15h 08.4m
Hyderabad	11h 29.4m	13h 32.0m	0.769	15h 15.2m
Imphal	12h 23.7m	14h 07.2m	0.877	15h 33.5m
Itanagar	12h 25.8m	14h 07.7m	0.821	15h 33.2m
Jaipur	11h 45.7m	13h 34.6m	0.541	15h 09.2m
Jalandhar	11h 55.7m	13h 35.9m	0.455	15h 04.3m
Jammu	11h 58.3m	13h 35.4m	0.425	15h 01.7m
Kanyakumari	11h 06.0m	13h 15.1m	0.919	15h 05.7m
Karaikal*	11h 17.8m	13h 24.8m	0.919	15h 11.6m
Kavalur	11h 19.7m	13h 26.2m	0.876	15h 12.7m
Kavaratti	10h 55.1m	13h 04.6m	0.812	14h 59.6m
Kohima	12h 25.1m	14h 07.8m	0.861	15h 33.6m
Kolhapur	11h 15.0m	13h 19.4m	0.713	15h 07.1m
Kolkata	12h 07.2m	13h 57.5m	0.834	15h 29.1m
Koraput	11h 45.1m	13h 43.6m	0.815	15h 22.0m
Kozhikode	11h 06.9m	13h 15.7m	0.851	15h 06.5m
Kurnool	11h 24.6m	13h 28.9m	0.795	15h 13.9m
Lucknow	11h 57.5m	13h 46.4m	0.623	15h 19.0m
Madurai*	11h 12.0m	13h 20.2m	0.919	15h 09.0m
Mangalore	11h 07.4m	13h 15.4m	0.800	15h 06.1m
Midnapore	12h 04.5m	13h 55.7m	0.819	15h 28.1m
Mt. Abu	11h 31.9m	13h 24.2m	0.536	15h 03.2m
Mumbai	11h 16.7m	13h 18.2m	0.644	15h 04.5m
Murshidabad	12h 09.8m	13h 58.5m	0.798	15h 29.1m
Muzaffarpur	12h 06.4m	13h 54.7m	0.711	15h 25.7m
Mysore	11h 11.9m	13h 19.8m	0.843	15h 09.0m
Nagapattinam*	11h 17.6m	13h 24.6m	0.919	15h 11.5m
Nagercoil*	11h 05.3m	13h 14.6m	0.919	15h 05.4m
Nagpur	11h 39.9m	13h 37.7m	0.705	15h 17.1m
Nainital	11h 59.8m	13h 44.6m	0.552	15h 14.9m
Nalgonda	11h 30.3m	13h 32.9m	0.739	15h 16.0m
Nashik	11h 22.4m	13h 22.5m	0.640	15h 06.8m
Nellore	11h 27.6m	13h 32.0m	0.858	15h 16.0m
Nowgang	12h 22.9m	14h 06.2m	0.824	15h 32.7m
Panjim	11h 10.6m	13h 16.3m	0.730	15h 05.7m
Patna	12h 04.7m	13h 53.9m	0.716	15h 25.5m
Pondicherry	11h 21.6m	13h 27.8m	0.908	15h 13.5m
Port Blair	12h 04.6m	13h 54.2m	0.762	15h 24.1m
Pune	11h 18.6m	13h 20.8m	0.670	15h 06.8m
Puri	11h 55.8m	13h 50.8m	0.849	15h 26.0m
Raipur	11h 47.2m	13h 43.7m	0.747	15h 21.1m
Rajamundry	11h 38.4m	13h 39.4m	0.836	15h 20.0m
Rajkot	11h 20.3m	13h 15.9m	0.550	14h 59.1m
Rameswaram*	11h 14.0m	13h 21.7m	0.919	15h 09.6m
Ranchi	12h 01.2m	13h 52.9m	0.766	15h 26.1m
Sambalpur	11h 53.9m	13h 48.7m	0.782	15h 24.2m
Shillong	12h 20.1m	14h 04.7m	0.827	15h 32.1m
Sibsagar	12h 27.7m	14h 08.9m	0.840	15h 33.8m
Silchar	12h 21.1m	14h 05.6m	0.858	15h 32.8m
Siliguri	12h14.2m	14h 00.1m	0.747	15h 28.9m
Silvassa	11h 20.7m	13h 20.4m	0.622	15h 05.0m
Simla	11h 59.0m	13h 40.3m	0.485	15h 08.8m
Sivaganga*	11h 15.0m	13h 22.6m	0.919	15h 10.2m
Srinagar	12h 01.7m	13h 35.7m	0.401	14h 59.9m
Sringeri	11h 10.3m	13h 17.7m	0.797	15h 07.5m
Tamenlong	12h 23.1m	14h 06.8m	0.867	15h 33.3m
Tanjore*	11h 16.9m	13h 24.2m	0.919	15h 11.4m
Thimpu	12h 17.8m	14h 02.2m	0.750	15h 29.8m
Thiruvarur*	11h 17.1m	13h 24.3m	0.919	15h 11.3m
Tirunelveli*	11h 07.9m	13h 16.8m	0.919	15h 06.8m
Trichur	11h 06.7m	13h 15.7m	0.874	15h 06.5m
Trivandrum*	11h 05.1m	13h 14.5m	0.919	15h 05.5m
Udaipur	11h 34.4m	13h 27.1m	0.552	15h 05.6m
Ujjain	11h 36.0m	13h 31.4m	0.610	15h 10.7m
Vadodara	11h 26.8m	13h 23.3m	0.587	15h 05.2m
Varanasi	11h 59.2m	13h 49.7m	0.687	15h 22.7m
Vijaywada	11h 34.0m	13h 36.24m	0.826	15h 18.2m

Eclipse Updates

2010-01-04T22:06:00.001-08:00

The SPACE scientific team will reach varkala on 13th and set up the equipments after deciding about the venue.

Annular Eclipse of the Sun January 15, 2010

2009-12-26T03:06:00.000-08:00

Annular Eclipse of the Sun January 15, 2010

Courtesy - http://shadowandsubstance.com/

SPACE events planned at different locations across India

2009-12-18T21:30:00.001-08:00

SPACE events planned at different locations:

1. Eclipse workshop by Jay Pasachoff
at Nehru Planetarium on 11th Jan, 2010 (TENTATIVE)
Jointly hosted by SPACE and Nehru Planetarium

2. Public Eclipse Watch on 15th Jan 2010, at Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu
A public watch is planned on 15th Jan at Dhanushkodi, Tamil Nadu. The SPACE team will organize and guide the public watch. They will set up telescopes for viewing and provide solar goggles.

3. Public Eclipse Watch on 15th Jan 2010 in Delhi
A SPACE team will organize and guide a public watch. They will set up telescopes for viewing and provide solar goggles. Locations will be announced later.

4. Experiments/Activities for SNCs and SPACE schools for ASE
Photographing the sun at Max annularity
Mass observations
Physical experiments

5. Scientific Observing at Varkala Beach, Kerala
SPACE Science Team will be present along with school principals, selected students and school coordinators for eclipse observations. Scientific experiments, Astro Photography and public skywatches will be conducted by the team. Observations and Activities include:

a. Mass public observation will be conducted at the venue.

b. Photographic Experiments to be conducted by the SPACE Scientific team:

ASE in one Frame using Digital Camera (Canon 450D with fisheye)
Long focal length, Main eclipse photography (william optics on orion mount with canon 500D)
Video of eclipse through the PST and high resolution webcam
Video of the Annularity using webcam attached to meade finder and handycam
Shadow sharpening photos
Crescents and Annularity through pinholes, trees, pictures, sieve using sony digital camera

c. Suggested Physical Experiments include:

Visual Contact Timings (C1, C2, C3, C4)
Measuring Sky Brightness
LDR + Multimeter
Temperature of water, soil and air at different heights
Humidity measurement
Wind Speed measurement at different heights
Finding Ratio of Sun and Moon During Annularity - Photographic
Shadow Sharpening

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Please support these efforts and help us make this event a success.

For more information contact:
Mila Mitra, Scientific Officer, 9971641274
Shikha Chanana, Coordinator Outreach Events, 9212669953

Information about ASE 2010 for schools in south india

2009-11-30T23:05:00.000-08:00

The largest Annular eclipse of this millennium is happening on 15th Jan 2010.This eclipse is one of the rarest eclipses which starts in Africa and passes over India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh before ending in China. The photosphere of the sun shall be covered by the moon forming a ring of fire in the sky for more than 10 minutes in some parts of India. The path of the annularity in India is passing over the state of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram while the partial phase of eclipse is visible all over the country.

SPACE, a scientific organisation working in the field of space sciences and astronomy education and popularization, is orchestrating an International collaborative eclipse watch on 15th of Jan, 2010. We invite schools and institutes in India and the other countries mentioned above to join hands in this one of the largest scientific international event.

SPACE shall select and collaborate with 20 schools in each of the 3 states falling in the annularity region in India on first cum first serve basis. The schools have to fulfill the prerequisite requirements mentioned below. .Each participant institution is expected to make a Eclipse task Group (ETG) comprising of 10 students and 1 teacher/ educator. The ETG shall be entrusted to organise public watches in their school, take observations of the assigned experiments, and do eclipse photography under the guidance of SPACE astronomers and Panel scientists. The experimental procedure, processes, Public watch organisation and Photographic training shall be provided by SPACE astronomers and scientist through the internet web conferencing and the astronomer shall physiaclly visit and train the ETG in the areas with technological Limitation if reqiured, whichever the case may be. Since this eclipse is becoming very popular and is visible over a large population it becomes important that people are trained to watch this eclipse safely under guidance. Unsafe viewing of the sun can cause damage to our eyes. The public observations organised by you shall be a huge scientific contribution to society. All the members and related institutes of ETG’s shall receive a certificate from SPACE.

The Main objectives of the Collaborative eclipse observation are:

• To collect a large sample of scientific data in the annularity region of eclipse all over the world.

• To provide a collaborative platform to increase the involvement of students and teacher fraternity in general scientific contribution to the society

• To organise large number of Public watches during the eclipse to involve masses in the safe eclipse observation.

• To provide the opportunity of real time participation in a scientific experimentation and to propagate learning of science through hands on experience.

• To create an international platform for collaborative projects and experiments at intermediate level.

• To stimulate international student scientific cooperation and scientific exchange.

• To spread scientific temperament and break myths and misconceptions associated with eclipses.

What is expected from You.

1. Constitution of Eclipse task Group comprising of

10 students (class 8th and above) and 1 teacher (computers, science, geography)

2. High speed Internet connection.

3. Availability of open ground to hold public watch

4. Public address system and other general requirements

5. One Handy Cam.

6. One SLR camera.

7. 2 laptops.

8. Webcam

9. Trained technical help who can connect to web-conference.

10. Popularization of event locally.

11. Printer.

12. Local mail dispatches etc.

13. Electricity connections.

14. Other incidental petty requirements if any

What will be provided by SPACE.

1. All technical training and related documents.

2. Filters etc and kits.

3. Media management (Press releases, articles etc.)

4. Website management

5. Experiment procedures etc.

6. Web conferencing platform

7. Visits of Astronomer and Scientists if required.

8. Local technical support if required.

9. Filling of reports

10. Observation sheets and logs.

11. Software required

12. International collaboration and connectivity

13. Management and coordination of overall event.

SPACE had organised the eclipse watch at “Taregana” in Bihar on June 22nd 2009 under its project “Grahan -2009”. More than 80 thousand people participated in public observation of the Total solar Eclipse which is a record in itself. The event was highlighted in the press in India and abroad.The Chief Minister of Bihar Mr. Nitish Kumar generously praised the effort of SPACE and participated in the event.

This eclipse being one of longest annular eclipse is becoming even more popular among scientific circle. The media is already reffering it as the “Pongal Eclipse”. Anticipating a huge participation of public in this eclipse SPACE is also working towards organizing “Eclipse Mela- The Ring of Fire 2010”in Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the day of eclipse with the help of state government bodies. The Mela shall intend to involve masses in the astronomical events and create a culture of enjoying such events rather than getting afraid and disassociated due to Myths and Misconceptions. The teacher, students and schools/institutes can volunteer and collaborate in organizing this event separately.