A total solar eclipse occurs on July 22. The path of totality starts on the west coast of India near Mumbai, crosses Bhutan and parts of Nepal, Bangladesh, and Tibet, and moves into China. Wuhan - China's 4th largest city - and Shanghai - its largest - lie on the part of totality. The eclipse track crosses the East China Sea, then darkens Japan's Ryukyu Islands chain and Iwo Jima. Maximum eclipse is reached about 315 km east of the latter island, where the Sun is completely obscured for 6 minutes and 39 seconds. This eclipse offers the longest period of totality of any eclipse in the 21st century!

Much more information is available at http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEmono/TSE2009/TSE2009.html.

The sky around the Sun during totality in Shanghai, China, 9:40 am local time on July 22, 2009. (click to enlarge)*

The accompanying movie clip shows the appearance of the eclipse as seen from Shanghai, China. The animation is accelerated by a factor of approximately 120 times. (The exact number varies according to your computing environment.) It begins with the start of the partial phase at 8:23 am local time. Totality begins at 9:36 am and lasts until 9:41 am local time. The partial phase ends at 11:01 am local time. Note that all the dramatic effects, such as the appearance of the corona and of the background star field, only happen during the 5 minutes of totality.