Solar eclipse 22 July, 2009
Total eclipses are caused when the moon moves directly between the sun and the earth covering it completely to cast a shadow on earth.
On Wednesday, 2009 July 22, a total eclipse of the Sun was visible from within a narrow corridor that traversed half of Earth. The path of the Moon’s umbral shadow begin in India it swept over the Indian cities of Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi and Pata its central duration headed towards the 4-minute mark and crossed through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China.
After leaving mainland Asia, the path crossed Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and curved southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reached to 6 min 39 sec the Sun’s altitude was 86° and the path width was 258_km.
The first total eclipse occurred on Jan 27, 1721. The eclipse on July 22, 2009 is the longest 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 Wednesday’s until 2132.
The celestial event was met by a mixture of awe, excitement and fear. In Hindu mythology, an eclipse is caused when a dragon-demon swallows the sun, while another myth is that sun rays during an eclipse can harm unborn children.
Cloudy skies and rain damped the show in many areas, but villagers in the town of Varanasi, on the banks of the Ganges in India, got one of the best views. Thousands of Hindus took to the waters to cleanse their sins. The eclipse was seen there for 3 minutes and 48 seconds. Others in India were gripped by fear and refused to come outdoors.
Chinese launched fireworks and danced in Shanghai. Jubilant eclipse watchers in China set off fireworks near the banks of the Qiantang River in coastal Zheijiang province as skies darkened overhead for about six minutes.
In Tokyo, Japan millions of Asians turned their eyes skyward while others, fearing a bad omen shuttered themselves indoors. On the tiny Japanese island of Akuseki, where the total eclipse lasted 6 minutes and 25 seconds more than 200 tourists rushed out cheering and applauding as the sky started to darken.
In Beijing, a thick blanket of grayish smog blotted out the sky. Bangladeshis also came out in droves.
At a Buddhist temple in the Thai capital Bangkok, dozens of monks led a mass prayer at a Buddhist temple to ward off evil.
A shallow penumbral eclipse occurs 15 days after the total solar eclipse which will be on August 06, 2009. Since its magnitude will be only 0.402, it will not be visible with naked eye.
The last eclipse of 2009 will occur on New Year’s Eve which will be Partial Lunar Eclipse on December 31, 2009.
This minor partial lunar eclipse will take place in Gemini and will be visible primarily from the Eastern Hemisphere. On a particular note is the 6-minute total eclipse passing through the central U. S. on 2045 Aug 12. The series will continue to produce total eclipses until 2496 May 13.
