The longest total solar eclipse of 21st century will occur on Wednesday, 2009 July 22, visible from within a narrow corridor that traverses half of Earth. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds and this will not be surpassed in duration for the next 123 years. Consequently, it is an opportunity of a lifetime to view this grand spectacle of the silhouette of the moon blotting out the sun for the longest.
The central path will begin in Gulf of Khambhat near the south coast of Gujarat at 6:23 a.m. Racing inland, the shadow sweeps over the Indian cities of Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi, and Patna as its central duration heads towards the 4-minute mark. Traveling across Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Burma the umbra sweeps over China, enters East China Sea and then passes through Japan's Ryukyu Island.
Eclipse at its peak, with the maximum duration of totality of 6 minutes 39 seconds will occur in South Pacific at 8:05 a.m. with the path width of 258 km. At this instant, the axis of the Moon's shadow passes closest to Earth's center.
The remainder of the path makes no major landfall; it arcs southeast through the Pacific hitting just a handful of small atolls in the Marshall Islands and Kiribati. The path of totality ends at 09:48 as the lunar shadow leaves Earth and returns to space 3.4 hours after it started its trek across our planet's surface. The 15,200 km long track covers 0.71% of Earth's surface.
A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the Moon's penumbral shadow, which includes most of eastern Asia, Indonesia, and the Pacific Ocean.
Caution
The eclipse should never be viewed with naked eyes. It will cause irreparable damage to the cornea. It should be viewed through a solar filter or a No. 14 welder’s glass.
Have a safe viewing of this rare celestial event
For those of you who missed out the spectacle live watch the Post Eclipse Video