The Longest Solar Eclipse of July 22, 2009Recent Pictures and Information on Eclipse. 
The solar eclipse of July 22, 2009(TODAY),is the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century,lasting at most 6 minutes, 39 seconds.[1] It has caused tourist interest in eastern China, Nepal and India.The eclipse is part of saros series 136, like the record-setting solar eclipse of July 11, 1991.The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027.The exceptional duration is a result of the moon being near perigee,with the apparent diameter of the moon 8% larger than the sun (magnitude 1.080) and the Earth being nearaphelion where the sun appears slightly smaller.It was visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives,northern Pakistan and northern India, eastern Nepal,northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar,central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.Toady totality it was visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Dinajpur, Siliguri,Tawang, Guwahati, Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang,Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi,Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shanghai, as well asover the Three Gorges Dam.[6][7] According to some experts, Taregana[8][9] in Bihar is the "best" place to view the event.A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia(all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.This solar eclipse will be the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the 21st century, and will not be surpassedin duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last forup to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipseoccurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited NorthIwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closestto maximum, while the closest inhabited point is Akusekijima, where the eclipse will last 6 minutes and 26 seconds.
