Solar Eclipse - 1st August 2008.

The solar eclipse that takes place on August 1, 2008 will be a total eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.039 that will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), middle of Russia, western Mongolia, and China. It belongs to the so-called midnight Sun eclipses, as it will be visible from regions experiencing midnight sun.

In Siberia, the total eclipse zone will pass through populated places, including the "capital of Siberia" Novosibirsk, and the cities of Nizhnevartovsk, Barnaul, Biysk. Greatest eclipse duration will be reached near the town of Nadym in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in Northern Siberia.

A partial eclipse will be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including eastern North America and most of Europe and Asia.

Event	Time (UTC)
Beginning of the general eclipse	08:04:06
Beginning of the total eclipse	09:21:07
Beginning of the central eclipse	09:24:10
Greatest eclipse	10:21:08
End of the central eclipse	11:18:29
End of the total eclipse	11:21:28
End of the general eclipse	12:38:27

In India

A partial solar eclipse will be seen in India tomorrow while the north-eastern parts of the country will see quite a large fraction of the disc of the Sun, eclipsed by the Moon.

"The partial eclipse will be seen in the north-eastern region, starting from about 4 PM," Director Nehru Planetarium, Rathnasree, said.

The biggest and the last phase of the eclipse will be visible from most parts of the country, except Nagaland and Mizoram, where the eclipse ends after sunset, she said.

The maximum obscuration of the sun will occur at Sibsagar in Assam.

The eclipse can be viewed from all over the country. In Delhi, the eclipse will start at 4:03 PM and end at 5:56 PM. It will be maximum at 5:02 PM.

In Mumbai it will from 4:27 PM to 6:03 PM, while in Chennai it will be visible from 4:40 PM to 6:07 PM and in Kolkata it will be seen between 4:18 PM and 6:02 PM where it will be relatively free from cloud cover.

The southern parts of India will see between 20-40 per cent of the diameter of the sun, while the northern parts of the country will see between 40-70 per cent of the diameter of the sun, at maximum of the eclipse.

Nasa to provide live coverage of solar eclipse

The solar eclipse, which is to take place tomorrow, can be seen by viewers around the world, including India, as Nasa, the US space agency has made arrangements to telecast live images of the rare celestial event.

Nasa in partnership with the Exploratorium Science Centre, San Francisco, and the University of California at Berkeley, will transmit coverage of the total eclipse in a live streaming webcast.

Nasa TV will cover the eclipse, to be visible in parts of Canada, northern Greenland, the Arctic, central Russia, Mongolia and China, from 1530 IST to 1745 IST.

The coverage will originate from China, considered one of the best observation locations because of the weather conditions there.

Viewers all across the globe can see the eclipse as it happens on Nasa TV and by logging on to www.Nasa.Gov.

NASA coverage will feature views from telescopes and a live educational show during the eclipse.

The next solar eclipse -- a partial one -- will occur on January 26, 2009, but the phenomenon will be marginally visible from eastern and southern India.