My OperaASIA WATCHED LONG SOLAR ECLIPSE
Thursday, July 23, 2009 2:04:40 PM
The longest solar eclipse of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean Wednesday, luring throngs of people outside to watch the celestial spectacle...
The longest solar eclipse of the century cast a wide shadow for several minutes over Asia and the Pacific Ocean Wednesday
, luring throngs of people outside to watch the celestial spectacle.
The total eclipse could be seen starting in India on Wednesday morning and moving eastward across Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, China and parts of the Pacific. Millions cast their eyes towards the heavens to catch a rare view of the sun's corona.
Total eclipses occur about twice a year as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun on the same plane as Earth's orbit. Wednesday's event lasted up to more than six minutes in some places.
People could look through the large telescope to catch a glimpse of the moon moving across the sun. Others looked through binoculars covered with solar filter paper or through a large rectangular block labeled "Large Solar Filter,"
where they could take pictures of the moon moving over the sun.
In India, an eclipse is considered inauspicious
; in Chinese tradition, there is a story about a heavenly dog eating the sun. She also observed the eclipse indirectly in a basin of mixture of ink and water
on the second floor. This is the second she have seen the eclipse. The next eclipse she will be 89, so she couldn’t see it . 
