A partial solar eclipse will occur on October 25. In India, the eclipse will begin before sunset in the afternoon and will be seen from most of the places including Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal.
However, the same cannot be seen from Andaman and Nicobar Islands and some parts of the Northeast such as are Aizawl, Dibrugarh, Imphal, Itanagar, Kohima, Sibsagar, Silchar, Tamelong etc.
A solar eclipse occurs on a new moon day when the moon comes in between the Earth and the sun and when all the three objects are aligned. A partial solar eclipse will occur when the lunar disk covers the solar disk partially.
The partial solar eclipse in Kolkata will begin before sunset around 4.52pm and will last for about 12 minutes till 5.04pm.
The ending of the eclipse will not be visible from India as the same will be in progress after sunset.
The obscuration of the sun by the moon will be approximately between 40 and 50 percent at the time of maximum eclipse in north-western parts of the country. In other parts of the country, the percentage coverage will be less than the above values.
The next solar eclipse will be visible from India on August 2, 2027 and it will be a total solar eclipse. From all parts of the country it will be seen as partial solar eclipse.
Eclipses should not be viewed with the naked eye, even for a very short time. It may cause permanent damage of the eyes leading to blindness even when the moon covers most portion of the Sun. Safe technique to observe the solar eclipse is either by using proper filter like aluminized Mylar, black polymer, welding glass of shade number 14 or by making projection of Sun’s image on a white board by telescope.