Total Solar Eclipse On 22nd July 2009

The solar eclipse on Wednesday, 22 July 2009 , will be a total eclipse of the Sun. This is visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum

The path of the Moon’s umbral shadow begins in India and crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean where the maximum duration of totality reaches 6 min 39 s.

A partial eclipse is seen within the much broader path of the Moon’s penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean.

At approximately 6:23 a.m., the central path of the eclipse will touch the Earth at sunrise at a point in the Gulf of Khmbhat in the Arabian Sea near the southern coast of Gujarat. At this time, the path of totality will be about 200 km wide and the duration of totality at the central line will be about three minute 30 seconds. The eclipse ends at 10:42 a.m. when Moon’s shadow finally leaves the Earth at local sunset at a point in the South Pacific Ocean.