Small towns best places to watch solar eclipse

Eclipse chasers are heading for small towns like Ujjain, Bhopal and Taregana to watch the solar eclipse on July 22 as these places would offer a better view of the celestial event.

Eclipse chasers are heading for small towns like Ujjain, Bhopal and Taregana to watch the solar eclipse on July 22 as these places would offer a better view of the celestial event.

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A team from Nehru Planetarium here is on its way to four cities in Madhya Pradesh to view the eclipse in a better way.

"Our team is arranging workshops for children and adults in Katni, Ujjain, Bhopal and Jabbalpur in association with the Council for Science and Technology in MP," said Ratnashree, Director of Nehru Planetarium.

"We are also arranging sky watching facilities for people in Katni," she added.

Gujarat Tourism ministry, along with ISRO is making arrangements for viewing the event in Surat, which is going to be the origin of the eclipse. Surat expects a surge of tourists to witness the event, where local people have been roped in to provide lodging facilities.

The Indian cities through which the shadow of total eclipse passes are Bhavnagar, Surat, Ujjain, Indore, Bhopal, Sagar, Jabalpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Gaya, Patna, Bhagalpur, Jalpaigudi, Guwahati and Dibrugarh.

Besides these places, astro enthusiasts are already making a beeline for Taregna near Patna which NASA has declared as the best place to watch the solar eclipse.