Feature

Students watch Solar
Eclipse in Panchagarh

Kongkon Karmaker

WITH thousands of stargazers and devotees of the country and from abroad gathered in Panchagarh to watch the cosmic phenomenon during the last solar eclipse of the century, the district administration had taken elaborate security and other arrangements during the solar eclipse fair.

According to the Bangladesh Astronomical Society about 50 million people of the country including pilgrims, scientists and tourists witnessed the pre-dawn solar eclipse on July 22 which started just after the dawn.

The eclipse was visible across a wide swath of Asia before moving over southern Japan and then off to the Pacific Ocean. In some parts of Asia, it lasted as long as 6 minutes and 39 seconds (Japan).

According to the researchers the eclipse is the longest since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America. There will not be a longer eclipse than Wednesday's until 2132. Here in Panchagarh the eclipse was seen for 3 minutes and 58 seconds.

The sultry heat and high humidity have not dampened the spirits of the thousands people, who remained defying all the odds in overcrowded places in different places here in Panchagarh including Madhupara, Panchagarh Stadium and Mazhipara.

The most viewed eclipse ever, the July 22nd solar eclipse was seen in some of the most densely populated countries in the world including northern Bangladesh, western India, easternmost Nepal, Bhutan and several large cities in China.

"This may be the most people that have ever been in the Moon's shadow at once," say NASA eclipse experts Deben Bhattyacharya while he was visiting Panchagarh on the occasion.