Chennai: Yesterday the rare astronomical event that is the partial solar eclipse was witnessed in Chennai. General Public and students were overjoyed to witness the partial Solar Eclipse at Edward Elliots Beach (March 9). Initially, the Sun was blocked by the clouds during the sunrise, then the sun started to rise up above the clouds.

At 5.45 am, sky watchers, astronomers, astrophotographers and the general public in Chennai saw the moon cast its shadow on the earth and blocking the rising sun. The day began to break at around 6.20am, but even as they waited with bated breath to watch the rare celestial event, the sun hid behind the clouds. Just when everyone was losing hope, someone in the crowd cried aloud, pointing towards the sky. The sun finally showed its face with a small part of it obscured by the moon.

The partial eclipse was expected to be visible on the Chennai sky for around 20 minutes between 6.20am and 6.48am on Wednesday morning. But Chennai got a glimpse of it for barely six minutes between 6.25am and 6.31am as cloud cover played spoilsport.

Students and eclipse chasers used professional cameras and instruments to photograph the eclipse and experiment during its transcending phases.

The city beaches saw huge crowds that began to gather as early as 5.30 am. Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre (TNSTC) and a few other astronomy clubs in the city set up their mini observatories on the beach sands to give the enthusiastic crowd a glimpse of the rare natural phenomenon.

People conducted special pujas at Marina Beach to ward off the `evil effects’ of the eclipse, which is considered to be inauspicious in Indian astrology.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth in such a way that the sun is wholly or partially obscured. This can only happen during a new moon when the sun and moon are in conjunction as seen from the Earth. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the moon does not completely cover the sun’s disc and casts only its penumbra (faint outer shadow) on the earth.

The next total solar eclipse will take place on December 26, 2019, best seen from India, the sun will be eclipsed to a maximum of 93 per cent and the eclipse will not be total. The Lunar Eclipse on March 23 will be clearly visible in Chennai, it added.