Thaindian News

The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century cast a 258km (160 mile) wide shadow over the worlds most populous nations earlier today, recorded on video for replay by millions of people.

Solar eclipse 2009 began at 6.30am local time (0100 UTC) when the shadow of the Moon made landfall on the western Indian state of Gujarat before racing across India, blacking out the holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, squeezing between the northern and southern tips of Bangladesh and Nepal before engulfing most of Bhutan, traversing the Chinese mainland and slipping back out to sea off Shanghai.

While millions of people watched the darkness evolve as the Moon gradually blocked the rays of the Sun, millions more were left disappointed, instead watching the event on television or streaming video feeds due to local cloud cover.

Across India and China, the two countries directly in the path of the Moon’s shadow, millions of people pointed camera’s and video recorders skyward as temperatures dropped, birds returned to their nests, and children looked on bewildered.

On either side of the eclipses path people in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, and parts of Indonesia also turned their attention skyward to view a partial eclipse.

In countries under and beside the path of the Moon’s shadow ingrained superstitions rose to the surface and people banged pots, pans and sticks to make noise to chase away the demon “devouring the Sun”, or gathered in prayer for protection.

As is prone to happen, local weather conditions obscured many from getting a first hand view of the eclipse, so Thaindian News has embedded a video of solar eclipse 2009 for your replay pleasure.

The solar eclipse 2009 video replay was recorded in Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, where spectators had a perfect view of the diamond ring formations of the sun as solar eclipse 2009 occurred. Watch the solar eclipse 2009 replay in the media player below.