Ring of Fire..

When the Sun and Moon are exactly in line, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun. Hence the Sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the Moon. Thus forming "Ring of Fire".

Well I just read about an article that the Annual Solar Eclipse will occur on Jan 15, 2010. Lucky South Indians, living in Dhanushkodi in Tamil Nadu will get to watch the 'Ring of Fire' when the moon will cover the sun's disc during the millennium's longest annular solar eclipse.

            "Ring of Fire" with "Baily's Beads"     
                  

Last time India witnessed this "ring of  fire" on Nov 22. 1965 and then it would be now after 3 days. It will be the Longest Annual Eclipse of the millennium with a duration of 11.08 minutes over the indian ocean.

'People in southern parts of the country, especially in Dhanushkodi near Rameshwaram, will be lucky to see the heavenly sight of 'Ring of Fire'. The eclipse will be best viewed at Dhanushkodi for a duration of 10 minutes and 13 seconds.

In India, the eclipse will start around 11 a.m. and end around 3:15 p.m. The eclipse will first be seen in south of Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and then move obliquely to Rameshwaram and Dhanushkodi. It will then move to Kerala and end in Mizoram in the northeast.

Delhi will see the partial phase this annual eclipse with maximum of 53% of visibility from 11:53 to 15:11.

The eclipse will be the longest of the millennium - that is between 2001 and 3000. People in most parts of India will witness the partial phases of the eclipse.

As the moon "grazes" by the Sun during a solar eclipse, the rugged lunar limb topography allows beads of sunlight to shine through in some places, and not in others. This effect is called Baily's beads in honor of Francis Baily who first provided an exact explanation of the phenomenon in 1836. The Baily's Beads are visible in this picture.