Astronomy lovers are in for a rare celestial treat as they will be able to witness the century's longest annular Solar eclipse on Friday. Speaking to AIR, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Director Mr C B Devgun said the Solar eclipse on January 15 is the longest annular Solar eclipse that will occur in the 21st century.<br/><br/>A Solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the Earth's view of the Sun, while an annular clipse occurs when the Moon is farther from the Earth than normal, and hence its apparent size is not quite sufficient to cover the Sun completely. Mr Devgun said in annular Solar eclipse, the Sun appears as a very bright annulus, which in Latin means ring, surrounding the outline of the Moon, giving the appearance of a Ring of Fire. He said the photosphere of the Sun shall be covered by the moon thereby forming a ring of fire in the sky for more than 10 minutes in some parts of India. The path of the annularity in India will pass over the states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Mizoram while the partial phase of eclipse will be visible all over the country.<br/><br/>In India, the eclipse starts at 11.06 AM and will continue for four hours till 3.5 PM. In most parts of the country the phenomenon will be partial.<br/><br/> However, along with Tiruvananthpuram in Kerala Tanjore, Kannyakumari, Madurai , and Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu will have the most attractive annular solar eclipse. The northern part of Kerala is to experience partial eclipse. The eclipse reaches its peak at 1.15 pm at Kannyakumari with the fire ring formation. Since Kannyakumari lies on the central line of the eclipse a large number of astronomers , scientists and media from all over the world have assembled there for a perfect view of the unique celestial activity. India had similar eclipse in 1965 and will have to wait till 2020 for another one. Both Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre and ISRO are doing a series of experiments to assess different impacts of annular solar eclipse.<br/><br/>The annular phase of the eclipse can be viewed in the southern part of the Indian subcontinent .Partial eclipse will be felt across the country. The best view of the eclipse will be at Dhanushkodi and Kannyakumari in Tamil Nadu.<br/><br/>He also cautioned not to look at the solar eclipse directly. Only properly designed and certified solar filters or Goggles should be used to view the annular solar eclipses. <br/><br/><br/>