Eclipse Photos: "Ring of Fire" Shines Over Africa, Asia

Annular Eclipse Over Bangkok

Photograph by Chaiwat Subprasom, Reuters

Although not everyone in Africa and Asia could see the eclipse's "ring of fire," viewers within thousands of miles of the main eclipse path did see a partial solar eclipse on January 15, 2010.

Above, an airplane is silhouetted against the partial eclipse seen over Bangkok, Thailand. The partial eclipse blotted out 57 to 80 percent of the sun over Thailand, depending on the province, Sakshin Bunthawin of Songkla University told the Phuket Gazette.

January 15, 2010

Statue and Eclipse

Photograph from ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images

Light from the start of the January 15, 2010, annular eclipse bathes a statue in a park in Fujian Province, China.

The annular eclipse began in China at 4:41 p.m. local time. For people in the eclipse's path, it took about three and a half hours for the moon to completely cross the sun's disk.

January 15, 2010

Eclipse Ring Over India

Photograph by Rupak De Chowdhuri, Reuters

Although the "ring of fire" created by the January 15, 2010, annular eclipse will be the longest-lasting of the millennium, the eclipse's longest duration happened over the open Indian Ocean, where few people could witness the sky show.

Still, parts of Asia were treated to significantly long-lasting rings, noted eclipse chaser Pasachoff, who traveled to India for the spectacle.

"For observers anywhere in southern India, there [was] an impressive ten minutes and four seconds of maximum eclipse time to enjoy," he said.

January 15, 2010

Eclipse Path

Illustration courtesy F. Espenak, NASA/GSFC

Shown in a NASA illustration, the full annular eclipse of January 15, 2010, cast a dark lunar shadow along a 190-mile-wide (300-kilometer-wide) path that traveled across nearly half Earth's surface.

The eclipse started over the Central African Republic at 6:14 a.m. local time. The shadow then swept over Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia before moving over the Indian Ocean. The eclipse made landfall again in the southern part of India; crossed through Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Myanmar (Burma); and finally ended in China.

January 15, 2010

Partial Eclipse Over Greece

Photograph by Chris Kotsiopoulos, TWAN

Viewers as far north as Greece were able to see a partial eclipse during the January 15, 2010, annular eclipse. Above, the moon takes a "bite" out of the sun's disk over the roughly 2,500-year-old temple of Poseidon in Cape Sounion.

According to legend, King Aegeus of Athens plunged to his death from the cliffs of Cape Sounion while mistakenly believing that his son had been killed by the Minotaur, thereby lending his name to the Aegean Sea.

January 15, 2010