Gerhana Matahari Cincin 15 Januari 2010

Hari Jumat, tanggal 15 Januari 2010 akan terjadi fenomena Gerhana Matahari Cincin. Gerhana Matahari pada 15 Januari 2010 merupakan gerhana matahari cincin (annular), yaitu bundaran bulan tidak sepenuhnya menutupi matahari sehingga masih tersisa bagian yang bercahaya, yang mengesankan seperti cincin. Namun dari Indonesia, yang bisa kita amati hanyalah Gerhana Matahari Sebagian (GMS) saja, karena tidak ada daerah di Indonesia yang dilalui oleh jalur totalitasnya, tidak seperti GMC 26 Januari 2009 yang lalu.

Daerah di Indonesia yang dapat menyaksikan gerhana nanti adalah seluruh Sumatra dan Kalimantan, bagian barat pulau Jawa, dan bagian utara pulau Sulawesi. Meskipun begitu, proses GMS akan bisa kita saksikan lebih baik apabila kita berada di wilayah barat Indonesia. Di sana gerhana akan berlangsung lebih lama dan piringan Matahari yang tertutup oleh Bulan juga lebih banyak dibandingkan dengan pengamatan di daerah timur.

Untuk pengamat yang berada di Banda Aceh, gerhana dimulai pada sekitar pukul 13.40 WIB dan berakhir pada pukul 16.40 WIB. Luas daerah piringan Matahari yang tertutupi Bulan mencapai 46% pada saat maksimumnya, yaitu pada sekitar pukul 15.20 WIB. Jumlah tersebut jauh lebih besar daripada hasil pengamatan di Manado yang hanya menutupi 0,3% daerah piringan Matahari saja.

Penjelasan lebih detail tentang Gerhana tersebut disajikan dalam artikel di bawah ini.

The solar eclipse of January 15, 2010 is an annular eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 0.9190. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring Earth's view of the Sun. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse will appear as partial eclipse over a region thousands of miles wide.

It will be visible as a partial eclipse in much of Africa, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. It will be seen as annular within a narrow stretch of 300 km (190 mi) width across Central Africa, Maldives, South Kerala, South Tamil Nadu, North Sri Lanka, Burma and China.

Visibility

The eclipse starts at Uganda, passes through Nairobi, enters Indian ocean where the greatest eclipse is taking place in mid of Ocean for a maximum of 11 Mins and 7.7 seconds.

After that enters Maldives, where it would be the longest on land with 10.8 Min of viewing. This makes the tiny islands of Maldives the best spot for viewing this eclipse from land. The annular Eclipse at Male', the capital city of Maldives starts at 12:20:20 hrs and ends 12:30:06 hrs Maldives local time (GMT+5hrs). This is also the longest duration of any city having an international airport in the eclipse track.[1]

After that enters and exits India at Rameswaram. Only place of land under the eclipse on India. At approx 13.20 hrs IST, there is a annular solar Eclipse of sun over India. The eclipse is viewable for full 10.4 min in India. The best place from India is Dhanushkodi in Pamban Island off Tamil Nadu coast. Dhanushkodi is now a ghost town and it is about 18 km South east from Rameshwaram and 18 Km West of Mannar Island in Sri Lanka.

After Rameswaram, enters Sri Lanka at Delft Island, exits at Jaffna in Sri Lanka, cross Bay of Bengal and ends in Burma - China border. Full data is in the NASA website.

For best viewing of the Eclipse, you need to travel to Maldives, where many International flights land and take off everyday, being a world famous tourist destination. Visa for Maldives is free for 30 days for a tourist entry.

The best location In India lies between Kodandaramar Temple islet and Dhanushkodi, which falls on the central line of the Eclipse. The northern most limit of shadow in India is Cuddalore, Neyveli, Erode, Kodaikanal, Madurai. Other best locations: Trivandrum, Thoothukudi and Cape Comorin which lies 22 km north of Central line.

Only means of reaching Dhanushkodi or kodandaramar temple is by ST bus or Auto from Rameswaram and for Dhanushkodi after road's end it is only by fish carts or 4x4 SUVs. Permission is required for entering Dhanushkodi ruins from the coast guard post as that area is 10 km from Sri Lankan coast.

The centre line passes some 2 km east of Kodandaramar Temple. The exact location is between NH end and Dhanushkodi ruins. Dhanushkodi is about 2 km east of the central line. The degree difference is about 0.2 between Central line - Kodandaramar Temple and Dhanushkodi ruins vice versa. Dhanushkodi is about 5 km from Kodandaramar Temple.

Enthusiasm

People, especially the sky enthusiasts from entire India are highly enthusiast about the annular eclipse as the last total solar eclipse of July 22, 2009, being visible on Indian soil remained somewhat a frustrating experience for many of them who got clouded out on the eclipse day in Monsoon cloud. The total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, was also similar negative experience.

Astronomy clubs from the whole country are gathering in different locations along the shadow track. One section of them, preferring to observe Bailie Beads more are concentrating on the location at the northern limit of the shadow track while the other section is going deep towards the centerline to have better view of the Ring shaped Sun.

Leave aside the sky watcher's associations from Bangalore or Chennai, even clubs like SWAN(Sky Watchers Association of North Bengal) from eastern Himalayan region like Darjeeling or North East region are also gathering in Rameswaram.

Members of SPACE (Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators) and STEPL (Space Technology Education pvt ltd) have planned various observation plans for this eclipse which includes scientific studies as well as watching eclipse for a layman as a curious observer.

Sumber: NASA, wikipedia, duniaastronomi