Foggy weather during the day marred the viewing of the solar eclipse, which was organized by the mine surveying section of the mining engineering department of IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, as part of their astronomical observation on Sunday morning.

A group of six persons led by IIT(ISM) Dean Dhiraj Kumar, who is also in charge of the mine surveying section, took part in the observation from 10.30 am to 12.15 am.

A view of the solar eclipse in Dhanbad at 10.57 am on Sunday Gautam Dey

Talking to The Telegraph Online, Dhiraj Kumar said the eclipse was visible only for around four or five seconds at around 10.55 am, although they remained on the ground with their equipment for around 115 minutes.

A view of the solar eclipse in Dhanbad at 11.55 am on Sunday Gautam Dey

“The eclipse was not clearly visible in the eastern part of the country today due to cloudy and foggy weather for the almost the day, particularly during the first half”, said Dhiraj, adding that a few faculty members and one research scholar were part of the team that participated in the observation.

“As all the hostels are lying vacant due to suspension of classroom activities since the lockdown, and it being a Sunday, only one research scholar accompanied the team of around six faculty members of Mining Engineering, Applied Mathematics and Applied Physics department during the astronomical observation” said Kumar.

A view of the solar eclipse in Dhanbad at 12.17 pm on Sunday Gautam Dey

“We were using an astronomical telescope with Carl Zeiss lens to view the eclipse,” said Kumar, adding that they also used theodolites, precision instruments used for measuring the angles in the horizontal and vertical planes.

“Since the eclipse was visible for only four or five seconds, the measurement could not be placed properly today,” said Kumar.

A view of the solar eclipse in Dhanbad at 12.27 pm on Sunday Gautam Dey

A theodolite is a moveable telescope, mainly used for survey work.

“We at IIT (ISM) regularly organize such astronomical observations during solar and lunar eclipses, and also to observe pole stars etc. using the instruments like astronomic telescopes and theodolites,” explained Kumar.

A view of the solar eclipse in Dhanbad at 12.44 pm on Sunday Gautam Dey

On December 26 last year, a similar astronomical observation was organized at the Heritage building of IIT (ISM) under Kumar’s guidance during a solar eclipse, when the observation was affected due to cloudy weather and ring formation was sighted for a few seconds only.