A solar eclipse for penguins, sea leopards?

Sky gazers in India and around the world will be a disappointed lot as they won't be able to witness the partial solar eclipse occurring today. According to a scientific organisation, the eclipse will be seen only on the coast of Antarctica.

Sky gazers in India and around the world will be a disappointed lot as they won't be able to witness the partial solar eclipse occurring on Friday. According to a scientific organisation, the eclipse will be seen only on the coast of Antarctica.

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The eclipse begins Friday at 1.23 pm (Indian time) and ends at around 2.53 pm. A partial solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon partially obscures the Sun as viewed from an Earth location.

The eclipse would be only seen on the coast of Antarctica, where the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet.

"Such a remote and isolated path means that it may very well turn out to be the solar eclipse that nobody sees other then a few penguins and leopard seals," said a statement issued by the Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE).

This eclipse is the third of four partial solar eclipses in 2011, with the others occurring Jan 4, June 1, and Nov 25.