Tonight:
8°c
Darkest dawn of the century in longest solar eclipse
Ed Harris22.07.09
Children wearing protective glasses watch the phenomenon in Taipei, Taiwan
The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century plunged great swathes of Asia into near-darkness after dawn today.
Millions of spectators rose early to watch the once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, although thick cloud-cover over India and China spoilt it for many.
Pictures taken in Seoul, South Korea, show the steps of the solar eclipse
The event was also marred when a 65-year-old woman was killed in a stampede at the Ganges river in India, where 2,500 devout Hindus had gathered for the eclipse.
Picture special: Solar eclipse
The clouds parted in several Indian cities minutes before the total eclipse took place at 6.24am local time, before moving to Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China.
The eclipse — caused when the moon moves directly between the sun and the earth, covering it completely to cast a shadow on earth — lasted almost four minutes in India. In some parts of Asia it lasted almost seven minutes.
In Bangladesh, people came out in thousands. Student Abdullah Sayeed said: “It's a rare moment I never thought I would see in my life.” He said cars needed to use headlights as “night darkness has fallen suddenly”. People hugged each other and blew whistles.
One of the best views was in the sacred Indian town of Varanasi, on the Ganges river. The eclipse was seen for three minutes and 48 seconds.
The eclipse — visible only in Asia — is the longest such eclipse since July 11, 1991, when a total eclipse lasting 6 minutes, 53 seconds was visible from Hawaii to South America.
There will not be a longer eclipse than today's until 2132.
Reader views (3)
As it was in the sign of Cancer, hopefully it signifies we'll all stop being so vacuous . . .
- Roz, France
Eclipses usually signify end of something (New Labour?) and beginning of something else??? What can be worse than Prudence from you know who?
- Hello Kitty, North London
Nothing compared to London last few days
- William, Hay~Heath UK
