New Delhi, July 23: For seventy-two passengers on board a special flight, the view of the solar eclipse could not have been closer as they watched the “mesmerising” celestial event at a height of 41,000 feet on wednesday.
The flight took off today at 4:57 am from Delhi and came back at 8:10 am after intercepting the middle of the total eclipse shadow at 6:26 am for four minutes.
The chartered aircraft, a brand new Boeing 737-700 from Jet Airways which hovered over the clouds in Gaya (Bihar) had 21 sun-side windows and 21 earth-side windows. The sun-side seats were priced at Rs 79,000, middle seats Rs 67,000, aisle seats Rs 59,000, while earth-side seats were priced Rs 29,000.
“I am mesmerised,” Sachin Bahmba, SPACE founder, who was on board the eclipse flight said.
“It was an electric phenomena. The altitude was just right to view the eclipse from the passenger aircraft windows.
At the height of 41000 feet, 75 per cent of the atmosphere, 99 per cent of the water vapour and aerosols were below the aircraft,” he said.
At this altitude scattering of sunlight by airborne particulates is low, giving rise to exceptionally dark sky during totality, enabling eclipse viewing with high contrast, he said.
–PTI