I realize this isn't really travel news, but I figured I would post this story about the solar eclipse seen over parts of Asia yesterday. If I were traveling in Asia, this is something I would have made sure to see.
Tens of thousands of people — from renowned astrophysicists to farmers — descended on a muddy Indian village yesterday to watch the best solar eclipse of the 21st century from what was predicted to be one of the finest vantage points on the planet.Technorati Tags: asia, eclipse, sun, moon,
There was only one problem: when the key moment came, it was cloudy.
The luxuriously thick monsoon cloud cover that had formed over Taregna in northern India overnight obscured any view of the heavens from the moment “first contact” was made between the Moon’s shadow and the Sun to the point of totality — when the Sun was completely obscured and the sky turned black.
Over Taregna, where every rooftop was populated with throngs of spectators as the Sun appeared to set just an hour after rising, the eclipse lasted three minutes and 38 seconds. The descent into darkness was met with whooping and hollering from a massive crowd, who had spent an hour listening to a state-sponsored lecture seeking to dispel the belief that eclipses portend ill fortune.
Two billion people cast into darkness as total eclipse crosses Asia - Times Online
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