Eclipse Chasers Atheneum (ECa), the eclipse sphere of SPACE calls all photographers and photography enthusiasts.
This year, on morning of 22nd of July, the umbral shadow of the moon passed over the rich heritage of our country. The Greatest eclipse of the century was actually a tailor-made for India. It crossed the entire breadth of India starting from the westernmost state of Gujarat to the easternmost state, Arunachal Pradesh. The path of totality passed over 13 Indian states including the small area called the Chicken's Neck in West Bengal. Not only this, partial eclipse was visible throughout the country.
A Life time Photographic Opportunity.
The total solar eclipse which just occured on the 22nd of July 2009 was the longest in terms of maximum totality duration of the 21st century – lasting over six and a half minutes. Not since Saros 1991 have astronomers and eclipse chasers been treated to such a length of time! The eclipse footprint started in India along the western shore near Surat moved towards Butan and reached the southern tip of Nepal and the northern edge of Bangladesh. For other lucky astronomers, the eclipse path also took the event over the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Suining, Chonging, Wuhan, Xiaogan, Hangzhou, and Shanghai – yielding five minutes of totality. Leaving Shanghai the shadow raced across the ocean to fall across islands such as Toshima and Akusaki south of Japan and eventually the Marshall islands. Where did the longest time occur? The maximum eclipse duration of 6 minutes and 43 seconds was far off the coast in the Pacific Ocean! And opportunity of a lifetime where we had captured the ephemeral eclipse casting its shadow over the monuments/heritage sites across all states . The eclipse was visible from many important sites like Taj Mahal (90% eclipse), Mahabodhi Temple (Totality), Sanchi Stupa (Totality), Khajurao Temples (99.7% eclipse), City of Temples - Varanasi (Totality).
The Project
With so much in the offer, we can't miss this once in a lifetime opportunity. Cosmic Crossroads - a project proposed by Atish Aman, Deepanshu Mehta, Vikrant Narang an avid photographers, astronomer and a member of SPACE -, endeavors to bring together a group of photographers who are passionate about photography as well as this project, and volunteer to go to Patna to capture this phenomenon on camera, and contribute the images to the collective pool.
Patna Stats
- Eclipse begins at 05:29:57 AM
- Total Solar Eclipse begins at 06:24:37 AM
- Greatest Eclipse Phase at 06:26:31 AM
- Total Solar Eclipse ends at 06:28:24 AM
- Eclipse ends at 07:29:29 AM
Victories
We have covered the longest total solar eclipse in the 21st century and will not surpass in duration until next 123 years.
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