Annular Solar Eclipse in Bangalore today
Today was supposed to be the last day of the Ranji trophy final in Mysore, but obviously that won’t be needed now. Apparently matches in India have been rescheduled in the past to avoid eclipses.
Anyway, in a few hours from now, I plan to work from our office’s terrace and even if clouds ruin the show (which I am sure they will) I’ll enjoy the evening sky at noon.
8:26 AM IST It’s a very cloudy morning with barely a hint of breeze. Doesn’t look like this will clear any time soon.
10:15 AM IST The sun came out, but only just. It’s back to being cloudy. Worse, it might just rain. We’ll see. Off to work.
10:40 AM IST At work. A gentle breeze has picked up. The clouds are drifting leaving an occasional patch of blue through which the sun can be seen. We’ll hopefully catch fleeting glimpses of the eclipse.
10:54 AM IST On the terrace but don’t see the sun. The breeze is still around so there’s hope.
11:00 AM IST This is how the sky looks:
11:37 AM IST It’s still light and shade. The eclipse isn’t here yet. We’ll be seeing it live via the iSight camera on my MacBook.
12:01 PM IST The pinhole camera shows that the eclipse has begun! Still too bright for the camera but we are about to try.
12:13 PM IST The sun is obscured by the clouds. Hard to tell what’s up. Cannot even say if the loss in light is due to the clouds or the solar eclipse.
1:22 PM IST It’s very surreal here. The birds are beginning to get befuddled. The shadows under the canopies of the trees are crescent shaped. Nature’s very own pinhole camera!
1:50 PM IST None of the digital cameras (including iSight) work. We just get a flare of light - cannot underestimate even the eclipsed sun!
2:14 PM IST It’s fast getting over. That was fun!
2023-05-07: Updated links to point to https://wwww.espncricinfo.com rather than http://www.cricinfo.com/