January 2010 includes the date of Earth’s closest approach to the Sun, Mars’s closest approach to Earth, and the 400th anniversary of Galileo discovering Jupiter’s moons.

2010 kicks off with a busy stargazing month. Jupiter says good-bye after its bright apparition for most of 2009, Mars rises for evening viewing for most of 2010, and the first eclipse of the year occurs over the Eastern Hemisphere.

The first solar eclipse of 2010 is annular; meaning the outside of the Sun will still be visible to eclipse watchers. On Friday, 2010 January 15, an annular eclipse of the Sun is visible from within a 300-km-wide track that traverses half of Earth.

The path of the Moon’s antumbral shadow begins in Africa and passes through Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia. After leaving Africa, the path crosses the Indian Ocean where the maximum duration of annularity reaches 11 min 08s.

The Annular Eclipse will be visible in South Kerala, South Tamil Nadu and Southern parts of Mizoram. The rest of the places in India it will be a partial eclipse.

In Ahmedabad and entire Gujarat, we will able to see the Partial Solar Eclipse on 15th January 2010 from 11.25 hrs to 15.05 hrs with maximum eclipse at 13.21 hrs.

Although an annular solar eclipse is not as splendid as a total solar eclipse, it is still quite wonderful. The annular solar eclipse of this year is the best until the year 2019, as the next solar eclipse on January 4 in 2011 is visible to people in Northern parts of the country and few places in Gujarat, whereas the solar eclipse in 2016 though visible in India begins and lasts only for few minutes close to horizon in early hours of March 9.

The solar eclipse is probably the most spectacular astronomical event that most people will experience in their lives. A solar eclipse presents a fun, exciting and educational opportunity to teach young people about science.

For the school and college students, the solar eclipse offers a unique opportunity to see a natural phenomenon that illustrates the basic principles of mathematics and science that are taught through elementary and secondary school. Indeed, many researchers, including amateur astronomers, have been inspired to study science as a result of seeing a total solar eclipse.

No opportunity offered by a natural phenomenon should ever be missed for the purpose of science and technology communication. As an exciting scientific event and science popularization activity, Gujarat Science City is organizing awareness, orientation and promotional activities on this celestial event among the public and the science communicators to reinforce their efforts to inculcate scientific temper in the society.

Science City has organized an awareness and orientation workshop for amateur astronomers and science communicators on 13th January 2010 (Wednesday) to discuss on the significance of the partial solar eclipse, the safe viewing measures and related scientific experiments for the school and college students. About 150 science communicators from different community science centers, science clubs, science teachers and interested students are being invited to attend the workshop and to receive first-hand experience for the solar eclipse activities.

Shri Ravi S. Saxena, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Science & Technology has given kind consent to inaugurate the awareness and orientation workshop in Science City on 13th Jan 2010 at 10.30 hrs. Eminent scientists including Prof. J. N. Desai, Dr. Narendra Bhandari, Dr. J. R. Trivedi, from Physical Research Laboratory and Dr. Piyush Dave, eminent ophthalmologist, experts from Astronomy Club will interact with participants about different aspects of solar eclipse and its safe observation.

Your browser may not support display of this image. There are also elaborative arrangements made at Science City to facilitate the safe viewing of the partial solar eclipse on the 15th January 2010. Telescopes fitted with appropriate solar filters, solar image projectors, pin-hole camera, and solar filter goggles, NASA eclipse lenticulars have been arranged to facilitate safe viewing of this celestial event among a large number of students and visitors.

The activity includes the live commentary and interaction by the scientists, student scientific experiments, screening of eclipse films and presentations on the LED screen.

Live Phone-in Programme on Gyan Vani 105.6 Mhz FM

In order to involve more and more members in the community and society, a special Live Phone-in programme has been organized in association with Gyan Vani between 9.00 am to 10.00 am on 15th Jan 2010 about the clarification for solar eclipse and superstitions. Prof. J. N. Desai and Dr. C. M. Nagarani former scientists of PRL and astronomy expert will interact with the listeners on the subject. Listener may call on 02717-241212 between 9.00 am to 10.00 am.

It is also an opportunity for school and college students to contribute actively to scientific research – observations of contact timings at different locations along the eclipse path are useful in refining our knowledge of the orbital motions of the Moon and earth, and sketches and photographs of the solar corona can be used to build a three-dimensional picture of the Sun’s extended atmosphere during the eclipse.

For everybody, the eclipse is a unique opportunity to admire and celebrate the beauty and inspiration of the celestial experience. The experience of such a moment triggers questions on the cosmos, our Earth in space, and our human condition – a shared unforgettable experience that crosses boundaries of language, race, religion and culture.

Let’s not miss this spectacular event of this year. Let us bring the thrill of watching this grand event of the people, at the same time, helping them to develop a scientific outlook.

Visit Gujarat Science City and be a part of Solar Eclipse celebration.

All India schedule of Solar eclipse 15th January 2010

The Solar Eclipse, or Surya Grahan, taking place on January 15, 2010 is an Annular Eclipse. The path of eclipse is – between South India and northern Sri Lanka – through the Palk Strait.

The Annular Eclipse, when the sun is visible like a ring of fire, with the moon darkening its centre, will be visible in South Kerala, South Tamil Nadu and Southern parts of Mizoram.

The rest of the places in India it will be a partial eclipse. Here are the Places and Time in India where the partial eclipse is visible.

Four Metros:

Delhi – 11:53 AM to 3:32 PM

Mumbai – 11:17 AM to 3:04 PM

Chennai – 11:25 AM to 3:15 PM

Kolkata – 12:07 PM to 3:29 PM

North East India:

Agartala, Tripura – 12:06 PM to 3:32 PM

Aizawl, Mizoram – 12:20 PM to 3:23 PM

Dispur, Assam – 12:21 PM to 3:32 PM

Gangtok, Sikkim – 12:15 PM to 3:29 PM

Imphal, Manipur – 12.24 PM to 3:33 PM

Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh – 12:26 to 3:33 PM

Kohima, Nagaland – 12:25 PM to 3:34 PM

Shillong, Meghalaya – 12:20 PM to 3:32 PM

South India

Bangalore, Karnataka – 11:17 AM to 3:11 PM

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh – 11:29 AM to 3:15 PM

Pondicherry (Puducherri) – 11:22 AM to 3:14 PM

Thiruvanantapuram – 11:05 AM to 3:05 PM

Vishakapatanam, Vizag – 11:44 AM to 3:22 PM

Central India

Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh – 11:41 AM to 3:14 PM

Raipur, Chattisgarh – 11:47 AM to 3:21 PM

Nagpur, Maharashtra – 11:39 AM to 3:17 PM

Eastern India

Bhuvaneshwar – 11:57 AM to 3:26 PM

Ranchi – 12:01 PM to 3:26 PM

North India

Chandigarh – 11:58 AM to 3:08 PM

Shimla, Himachal Pradesh – 11:59 AM to 3:09 PM

Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir – 12:02 PM t0 3:00 PM

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh – 11:55 AM to 15:18 PM

Dehradun, Uttarakhand – 11:59 AM to 3:11 PM

Jaipur, Rajasthan – 11:46 AM to 3:09 PM

Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh – 11:57 AM to 3:19 PM

Patna, Bihar – 12:05 PM to 3:25 PM

Western India

Gandhinagar, Gujarat – 11.28 AM to 3:04 PM

Panaji, Goa – 11:11 AM to 3:06 PM

Ahmedabad, Gujarat – 11:27 AM to 3:03 PM

Pune, Maharashtra – 11:18 AM to 15:06 PM