Minutes before sunset on Monday, the sun looked like a giant apple with a tiny fraction bitten off by a baby. But the spectacle was not visible to the naked eye. The second partial solar eclipse of 2022 happened on Tuesday.
A partial solar eclipse occurs when the sun, moon and earth are almost on the same plane. As a result, the moon appears to cover the sun partially for a period of time, causing a partial solar eclipse.
“The partial solar eclipse was visible from most of Europe, northern Africa, and parts of Asia. The eclipse began in Iceland at 2.29pm, was seen at its maximum from Russia at 4.30pm and ended at around 6.32pm over the Arabian Sea,” said Debiprosad Duari, director, Institute of Astronomy Space and Earth Science, Kolkata.
“In Kolkata, the partial eclipse happened from 4.52pm to 5.03pm. Even at the maximum eclipse, only four per cent of the disc of the setting sun was covered by the moon,” he said. The eastern part of the country saw the partial eclipse only marginally. The northern and western part of the country had a better and longer view.