Williams Astronomy Professor Heading to India for Annular Eclipse

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Jay Pasachoff, the Field Memorial professor of astronomy at Williams College and chair of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Solar Eclipses, is heading to India to view a solar eclipse on Thursday, Dec. 26.

According to Pasachoff, the moon will be a little farther from Earth than average, so it will not completely cover the sun's bright disk, leaving a ring known as an annulus of bright everyday sunlight. Though up to 93 percent of the sun will be covered, to see this "annular eclipse" safely, people should still use special solar-safe filters or look at projected images. Near the maximum of the eclipse, images will be naturally projected under trees by the spaces between the leaves, so people can see the eclipse by safely facing away from the sun and looking only at the projected image.

The partial phases will be visible over a two-hour period throughout India. During the eclipse, the only noticeable effect on Earth will be less sunlight than usual; no extra rays are given off by the sun, so it is completely safe to be outdoors.

Pasachoff will view the annular eclipse, his 18th annular, together with professor Jagdev Singh of the Indian Institute for Astrophysics in Bangalore, who is also a solar astronomer and a member of the Working Group on Solar Eclipses. Pasachoff has also viewed 35 total solar eclipses, most recently in Chile in July and in the United States in 2017, as well as partial solar eclipses, making the forthcoming eclipse his 72nd solar eclipse.

Pasachoff will lecture about solar eclipses at the planetarium in Mumbai at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 24, hosted by the planetarium's director, Arvind Paranjpye. Then he will travel to Madurai, where he will be hosted by professor Stephen Inbathan of the American College. Pasachoff, Singh, Inbathan, Robert Lucas from Australia, and their families will observe the annular phase of the eclipse from the Basri beautiful country resort en route to the venerable Kodaikanal Solar Observatory, where they will spend the night.

Near Madurai, the eclipse will begin at 8:07 a.m. local time, as the moon first begins to overlap the sun's disk. The peak of annularity will be visible there from 9:30 to 9:33 a.m., with the partial phases ending at 11:15 a.m. The sun will be about one-third of the way up in the sky, and 93 percent of its diameter will be covered at maximum. The path of annularity will be 128 kilometers wide, with Madurai and Kodaikanal near its southern edge.

The eclipse will begin to be visible in Saudi Araba, Qatar, UAE and Oman low in the sky, and at least one cruise ship will intercept annularity in the Arabian Sea. Information about the times and places for viewing the eclipse can be found at the International Astronomical Union’s eclipse website: http://eclipses.info. The maximum coverage of the solar disk will be 89 percent at Chennai, 84 percent at Mumbai and 56 percent in New Delhi. After the path of annularity leaves India, it will cross northern Sri Lanka, Indonesia's Sumatra and Kalimantan, and Singapore. Partial phases will be visible as far north as Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo. Guam and some Mariana Islands will be in the path of annularity, as the eclipse exits across the Pacific.

Coggins Classic Golf Tournament Helps Bennington Project Independence

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
05:37PM / Saturday, September 05, 2026

This was the tournament's fifth year; it combined with the independence project's annual golf outing this year. 

BENNINGTON, Vt. — Thirty teams hit the green for this year's Coggins Classical Golf tournament, helping Coggins Auto raise money for Bennington Project Independence.

Coggins Auto Marketing Director Valerie Harrington said the fifth annual tournament, which was held on Aug. 28, continued a tradition of community-driven giving. 

Harrington first helped organize the tournament in 2022. She hoped to raise $10,000, which would allow the auto group to leverage a $10,000 Toyota match program. 

The tournament has successfully raised more than $50,000 the last two years, with last year's beneficiary the Cancer Center Community Crusaders. 

This year, it raised more than $50,000 alone, including meeting the Toyota match the third year in a row.

Harrington said she wanted to help the nonprofits in the area, especially those that might get overlooked.

"The idea of it was especially for those nonprofits that are pretty small and don't have really the funds or the means or understanding of how to put on a golf tournament, and to give them an opportunity to get at least $20,000 in funds that year, which is huge for a lot of them, and it's really grown since then," she said.

"There's a lot of nonprofits that are big and big and loud and you know about them, but there are so many more that are like people don't even realize they exist. But what they do is super critical and important to the people in our community."

Local nonprofits submit an application each year explaining their mission and what they need to succeed. Coggins employees narrow the submissions to their top three choices and then let the community decide who they should pick.

Bennington has more than 100 nonprofits, and it can be hard to keep track of them all, but with the tournament, Coggins is able to have many people learn and see the needs in their community and nonprofits they haven't heard about.

"Even if they don't win, they've got in front of thousands of people who read their story and know what they need and know what they do to just spread awareness," Harrington said. "And then by having the community vote on it, then we know for sure what we're doing is what the community wants the most at that given time ...

"The community is saying, 'Hey, we want this nonprofit. We like what they're trying to do. Let's give them help because it's the decision of hundreds to thousands of people rather than just a handful of us.'"

Bennington Project Independence is an adult day service for individuals and families facing the challenges of aging or disability. This year the organization is combining its 13th annual golf tournament with Coggins.

"I think they've affected a lot of people's lives and helped a lot of families because it's an adult day facility for not just the elderly but also special needs," Harrington said. "So what they do every day to keep those folks' lives enriched while giving the family a break or allowing them to go to work and do these things. It's really important."

The 2027 tournament submissions will open in March of 2027.