Century's longest solar eclipse

A long wait by skygazers to look at a rare celestial event ended when the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century was seen on July 22, 2009. It provided a rare opportunity to witness the grand event for the people in west, central, east and north-east India.

A total eclipse occurs when the Sun is completely obscured by the Moon. The intensely bright disk of the Sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the Moon.

During the total eclipse, totality is visible only from a narrow track on the surface of the Earth.

The countries who witnessed the path of the Moon's umbral shadow were India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China.

In India, the shadow sweeped over the cities of Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi and Patna. Travelling across to Bhutan, the eclipse was visible in Nepal, Bangladesh, and Burma.

The Taregna village in Bihar, about 30 km south of Patna, where astronomer Aryabhatta (476-550 AD) had set up a camp to study movement of stars, had been adjudged as the best place to view the celestial phenomenon, the longest in the 21st century.

China's largest city Shanghai also experienced the total solar eclipse for five minutes.

After leaving mainland Asia, the path crossed Japan's Ryukyu Islands and curvesd southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality was 6 min 38 sec.

This solar eclipse was the longest total solar eclipse that occured in the 21st century and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132.

The next total solar eclipse will be on July 11, 2010 which will be seen in South pacific, Chile and Argentina.