Asia swathed in darkness by the longest total eclipse of the century

The eclipse was first sighted at dawn in eastern India near the town of Guahati before moving north and east to Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China Tourists, astronomers and residents across a large swath of Asia turned their eyes to the heavens today as the longest eclipse of the 21st century arrived. Viewing for many was marred by heavy clouds and rain, but the drama of the total eclipse – as darkness swept a narrow path across the continent – was unmistakable. Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, picked out by China's National Astronomical Observatory as one of the best spots to view the phenomenon, was drenched by rain after days of fine weather. Forecasters had warned all eight of the selected sites could suffer bad weather. Thousands of foreign tourists had come to the little-knownn city of 3.5 million inhabitants. They reportedly included a party from India who...

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