Part of total solar eclipse seen in India

KOLKATA: Only a part of the total solar eclipse was visible from India this morning with experts saying Kanyakumari and Andaman and Nicobar islands got the most spectacular view of the cosmic event.

"In India partial eclipse was seen from the eastern half of the country. The maximum obscuration was around 66 per cent in Kanyakumari. It was a little higher in the Andaman and Nicobar islands," Dr Debiprosad Duari, Director of M P Birla Planetarium, Kolkata, told PTI.

He said there were reports from places in Tripura, Assam and North Bengal that a cloud cover obstructed the view of skygazers.

In most of the places in India, the eclipse started either before sunrise or around sunrise.

The total solar eclipse was visible from within a narrow region, which extends from the Indian Ocean through the east Asian countries like Sumatra, Borneo, Sulawesi passing through some islands belonging to Australia and ending at the middle of the Pacific Ocean, far away from any country.

For Kolkata, the eclipse was in progress when the sun rose at 5:51 AM and at around 6:06 AM the maximum partial eclipse of around 18 per cent was visible, Duari said.