Annular Solar Eclipse Today

I've read an article from yahoo.com news about the annular solar eclipse that will take place tonight, January 26, 2009. People in the Indian Ocean will luckily witness this rare event from 0606 GMT to 0952 GMT

An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Sun and the moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the moon is smaller than that of the sun. Hence, the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon.

I've never witnessed any solar eclipse, so I hope I would be able to take a glimpse to this eclipse even for a minute. But I'm able to witness a Lunar Eclipse.

Here's the article from yahoo.com

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Ring of Fire: Indian Ocean to seee solar eclipse

PARIS (AFP) – A few lucky people in the Indian Ocean will be treated to a rare event on Monday when an annular solar eclipse will transform the Sun into a dark disc with a blazing ring-shaped corona around its rim.

In solar eclipses, the Moon moves between the Sun and Earth, casting its shadow on the terrestrial surface.

In an annular eclipse, a tiny shift in distance that results from celestial mechanics means the Moon does not completely cover the Sun's face, as it does in a total eclipse.

Instead, for those directly under the alignment, the Moon covers most of the Sun's surface, and a ring-like crown of solar light blazes from the edge of the disk.

For those watching from the fringe of the track, the Sun is partially obscured, as if a bite has been taken out of it.

According to veteran NASA eclipse-watcher Fred Espenak, the total eclipse track will run from west to east on Monday from 0606 GMT to 0952 GMT.

It will traverse the Indian Ocean and western Indonesia before petering out just short of Mindanao, the Philippines.

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