Solar Eclipse 2009: Rare Long Lasting Eclipse (Video)

Asia and the South Pacific will experience the Solar Eclipse 2009 today. This is a rare long lasting eclipse that will not happen again until 2132. Read more about it and check out photos and a video below.

Solar Eclipse

If you are an astrological fan, then you need to be sure to check out the Solar Eclipse 2009 that is scheduled to appear at 2:35 UTC time. Unfortunately, those of us in the United States won’t be able to see it except through a live feed - ah the wonders of modern technology!

This eclipse is the longest in a century and another like it won’t be experienced until 2132. It will last 6 1/2 minutes and offers a rare opportunity for scientist to gather data and study sun flares and other celestial phenomenon.

“We’ll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long, so it’s a very special opportunity,” Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China told the Associated Press.

Solar eclipses allow scientists to see the gases surrounding the sun, or its corona.

But most of us non-scientists just think its really cool.

There will be a partial solar eclipse in January 2010 and another total solar eclipsed in July 2010.

Of course you can’t have something unusual happening in the heavens without superstitions and prophecies of gloom and doom connected with it. This event is no different. There are predictions that the Solar Eclipse 2009 will usher in violence and turmoil across the world. Scientists are playing down the age old superstitions. In face, a group of Indian astronomers, Ahmedabad Astronomy Club and the Rajkot-based Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha, are planning ‘tea and snacks’ during the eclipse in an effort to dispel some of the prophetic concerns.

The rare long last eclipse is even more frightening for the superstitious just because of the length of it. I suppose we’ll see in the coming days whether or not the superstitions hold true. We’ll have to rethink it all if the demons Rahu and Ketu swallow the sun and we find ourselves without food and water and the world erupts into violence and despair.

Meanwhile, just enjoy the Solar Eclipse 2009 and check out the photos and video below.