While one heavenly gift will end on Monday, another will begin. The best meteor shower of the year, the Geminid meteor shower, will settle on Monday morning, after which the Earth will soon be in a position that will give sky watchers a glimpse of the last solar eclipse of the year.
However, the last solar eclipse of 2020 will not be visible in India due to its time and the rotations and revolutions of the earth around its axis and orbit respectively. It will be a total solar eclipse since the moon will completely cover the sun, blocking the light coming from the star of our solar system, casting a dark shadow or umbra on the planet.
According to timeanddate.com, the eclipse is estimated to last five hours beginning at 7:03 pm IST with its peak at 9:43 pm and ending at 12:23 am on December 15. The total eclipse can be traced in parts of South America. Chile and Argentina are expected to see up to two minutes and ten seconds of darkness due to the eclipse. Partial phases of the eclipse can be seen in some places in southern South America, southwestern Africa, and Antarctica.
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) will also provide the live link for space nerds around the world to witness the last total solar eclipse of the year.
A solar eclipse is the result of the moon’s location between the sun and the earth. The moon in the middle restricts the path of the solar rays reaching the earth and casts its shadow on the planet. Parts of the earth that are darkened by the moon’s shadow can see the eclipse.
India is projected to see the next solar eclipse on June 10, 2021, which will be an annular solar eclipse. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon fails to completely block the sun and its outer edges are still visible giving an image of a ring of fire in the sky.
The country will have to wait 4,844 days to see a total solar eclipse. Solareclipse.info, a site that has all the information related to the cycle of solar eclipses, has projected the next total solar eclipse for India on March 20, 2034.