Second day...my husband is all smiles....

Lately I have been reading a lot about the Total Solar Eclipse that is to occur on 22nd July 2009....I believe it is going to be the longest eclipse in the 21st century and the totality will last 6 min 39 sec.Although eclipses occur somewhere on Earth every 18 months on average,there are typically fewer than 10 total solar eclipses in a millennium that exceed 7 minutes . The last time this happened was June 30, 1973 (7 min 3 sec).The next eclipse exceeding seven minutes in duration will not occur until June 25, 2150. The longest total solar eclipse during the 8,000-year period from 3000 BC to 5000 AD will occur on July 16, 2186, when totality will last 7 min 29 s.So I should say this event(the longest total eclipse) is to occur for the first and last time in this century and my lifetime! (Phew! that was a lot of statistics)

The word "Eclipse" is a Greek word which means"fail to appear"Greek astronomers are believed to have great knowledge of eclipses. The Egyptian Pharaohs may have put some of their memorial temples on the paths of Solar Eclipses occurences.

There are many other myths, superstitions and religious interpretations in different cultures around the world. A Chinese myth says the Dragon devours the sun and an African myth says a snake emerged from the ocean and grew so large that it moved to the sky and swallowed the sun.Both cultures believe it needs to be frightened away by beating of drums.

There is infact an interesting myth in Hinduism regarding the occurence of the Eclipses.The story appears in the Mahabharata and the Vishnu Purana.Devas formed an alliance with asuras(Demons) to jointly churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality(Amrit).The nectar that was obtained from churning the ocean was cunningly stolen by asuras (Demons).In order to rescue the gods, Vishnu takes the form of a beautiful woman, Mohini, and approached the demons. When the demons saw the enchanting beauty of Mohini, they lost all composure. While the demons were enchanted by Her beauty, Mohini seized the nectar.And while distributing it to the Devas,Rahu,a demon,who suspected foul play follows the devas and being seated between Surya(Sun) and Chandra(moon) receives the nectar,but even before he swallows it, Mohini, alerted by the Sun and the moon decapitates the asura.But however the severed head becomes immortal due to the consumption of the nectar.To gain revenge on the sun and moon for exposing this, the immortal head occasionally swallows the sun or the moon, causing eclipses. Then, the sun or moon passes through the opening at the neck, ending the eclipse.

Coming to history,the element Helium was discovered on 18 August 1868 by the French astronomer Jules Janssen when he observed the spectrum of the Sun during a total eclipse in India while the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 is famous for confirming Einstein's work on general relativity by British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington

So will 22nd July 2009 go down in history?lets wait and watch!