Eclipse-China

On July 22, 2009, it was time for another total eclipse of the sun. Actually the longest one of the century (6 min 39 sec). We went to a popular beach, some 50 km south of Shanghai. There were signs showing reserved areas for foreign tourists. But even the Swiss tourists did not respect it...Unfortunately, the sky was not too kind with us. The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds. So it was annoying for us as we did not know if we needed to wear our special sun/moon/eclipse glasses. Some colleagues started prying to God, the spirits and whoever to make the wind blow the clouds away. But they did not succeed...

So then the sky turned dark. The camera started flasing. The carlights and the streetlights were turned on. Unfortunately we could not clearly see the moon in front of the sun. The difference between the total eclipse (100 percent) and a partial one (99 percent) is so huge. A small 1 percent matters sometimes! So enjoy the video below that starts when things are still pitch dark at 9:30 am.