Type of eclipse:

Gamma 0.0696
Magnitude 1.0799
Saros 136 (37 of 71)

Maximum eclipse:

Duration 398 s (6 min 38.8 s)
Location Pacific Ocean
Coordinates [show location on an interactive map] 22�27′08″N 090�28′04″E / 22.45222�N 90.46778�E / 22.45222; 90.46778
Max. width of band 258.4 km

Times (UTC):

Partial eclipse 23:58:18 (Jul 21)
Total eclipse 00:51:16
Central eclipse 00:54:31
Greatest eclipse 02:35:21

The solar eclipse that will take place on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 will be a total eclipse of the Sun. It will be the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting at most 6 minutes, 39 seconds. It has sparked tourist interest in eastern China and India.

The eclipse is part of saros series 136, like the record setting Solar eclipse of July 11, 1991. The next event from this series will be on August 2, 2027. The exceptional duration is a result of the moon being near perigee, with the diameter of the moon 8% larger than the sun (magnitude 1.080).

This is second in the series of three eclipses in a month. There was a lunar eclipse on July 7 and now a solar eclipse on July 22 and then a lunar eclipse on August 6.

VISIBILITY

It will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern Maldives, northern India, eastern Nepal, northern Bangladesh, Bhutan, the northern tip of Myanmar, central China and the Pacific Ocean, including the Ryukyu Islands, Marshall Islands and Kiribati.

Totality will be visible in many large cities, including Surat, Vadodara, Bhopal, Varanasi, Patna, Dinajpur, Guwahati, Chengdu, Nanchong, Chongqing, Yichang, Jingzhou, Wuhan, Huanggang, Hefei, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Huzhou, Suzhou, Jiaxing, Ningbo and Shanghai, as well as over the Three Gorges Dam. According to some experts, Taregana in Bihar is the "best" place to view the event.

A partial eclipse will be seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including most of Southeast Asia (all of India and China) and north-eastern Oceania.

DURATION

This solar eclipse is the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring in the ocean at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan. The uninhabited North Iwo Jima island is the landmass with totality time closest to maximum, while the closest inhabited point is Akusekijima, where the eclipse will last 6 minutes and 25 seconds.

EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION

According to majority of scientists earthquakes are not caused by the moon or any event such as this, no matter how long the eclipse lasts or how significant it is from other eclipses. The moon's gravitational pull is only known to cause tides. In this instance also there is a high probability for a mild change in ocean tides during the eclipse which should not be mistaken for a Tsunami.

However, there has been an unendorsed earthquake prediction by a software developer who specializes in computer game physics and has posted an article on a blog post. His statement is based on an existing theory by James O. Berkland originally posted on National Geographic. According to this speculation, the combined gravitational pull of sun and moon during the long total eclipse will cause a undersea tectonic uplift in south of Japan resulting a major tsunami. However, the author states that this is only a hypothesis and acknowledges that he is not qualified to make a formal prediction. The news is swiftly gaining attention worldwide as an electronic chain letter. Mainstream scientists and media have already rejected this hypothesis stating that there is no credible evidence to prove any correlation between solar eclipses and earthquakes.