Century's Longest Solar Eclipse

July 22, 2009
Century's Longest Solar Eclipse
For almost seven minutes, parts of Earth were in the shadow of the moon
By Joyce C. Tang



As the sun rose over Asia on Wednesday morning, the sky turned from light to dark. It was the longest solar eclipse that will happen during this century. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon's path crosses directly in front of the sun. The glow of the sun's light creates a brilliant ring around the moon.
"The sky turned dark like in the dead of the night. The air turned cooler and cicadas stopped singing. Everything was so exciting and moving," said Seiichiro Fukumitsu, an official from Akuseki, a small island of Japan. The total eclipse was visible from India, China, Japan and other parts of Asia. At its longest, over the Pacific Ocean, the eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds.
An Exciting Event or a Sign of Bad Luck?
While millions turned out to gaze at the eclipse, some made sure to stay indoors. To many Hindus in India and Buddhists in China, an eclipse can represent bad luck. But for the most part, people celebrated. In China, there were fireworks. In Japan, the eclipse was greeted with cheers and applause. Even the early morning clouds and rain couldn't keep viewers away.
Because looking directly at the sun can be dangerous, people use sunglasses, masks and other special devices to enjoy the eclipse.
Last century's longest eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 53 seconds and took place on July 11, 1991. A total solar eclipse is rare. The next one won't be seen until July 2010.

Michael-The eclipse happened at July 22nd. It was a beautiful astronomy phenomenon. The eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds. In Taiwan we just can see the annular partial eclipse. Some people said that we should see the eclipse at least one time in our life. The annular total eclipse could be seen in other countries. If we wanted to see another annular partial eclipse we needed to wait for another year. And if we wanted to see another annular total eclipse again we needed to wait another 61 years. So watching the eclipse is a wonderful thing to do.