Longest solar eclipse this century visible in Asia
Wednesday marks the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century when a large swathe of Asia, including parts of China and Japan, will be without sunlight for over 5 minutes.
The eclipse will appear first at dawn in India’s Gulf of Khambhat just north of of Mumbai.
It will move east across India, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific. The eclipse will cross some southern Japanese islands and be last visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati. Elsewhere, a partial eclipse will be visible in much of Asia.
For astronomers, it will be a chance for a prolonged view of the sun’s corona, a white ring 600,000 miles (1 million kilometers) from the sun’s surface. The previous total eclipse, in August 2008, was two minutes and 27 seconds. This one will last 6 minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.
Solar scientist Lucie Green is aboard an American cruise ship heading for that point near the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where the axis of the moon’s shadow will pass closest to earth.
I’m jealous…
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
[...] [...]