Asia fallen in darkness today

The longest solar eclipse of the century was witnessed by several peoples across Asia and Asia-Pacific for several minutes on july 22.
The total eclipse started in India on Wednesday morning and moved 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. But this one is certailnly a rare one being the longest solar eclipse of the century.
In India, an eclipse is considered inauspicious. Women forbid pregnant daughters-in-law from going outside out of the belief that their children could be born with marks.In Chinese tradition, there is a story about a heavenly dog eating the sun. As the story goes, people would make noise to scare off the dog and rescue the sun, said Bill Yeung, president of the Hong Kong Astronomical Society.

Asia wtnesses longest eclipse of the century

At a place called TAREGNA at the Indian province of Bihar - Hordes of scientists, students and nature enthusiasts prepared Tuesday for the longest total solar eclipse of this century, while millions planned to shutter themselves indoors, giving in to superstitious myths about the phenomenon.

Full solar eclipses occur when the moon's disk blots out the sun completely, due to a precise lineup of the sun, moon and Earth. The eclipse's partial phase can be seen over a wider swath of Earth, extending from the Russian Far East to Australia's northern tip.

The total eclipse will first be sighted at dawn Wednesday in India's Gulf of Khambhat, just north of the metropolis of Mumbai, before being seen in a broad swath moving north and east to Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China. From there, the track of totality moves across Japan's southern islands and the South Pacific