The longest total solar eclipse of this century taken place on 22-Jul-09, reaching a maximum 6min 39sec duration and following a track about 15,150km (9,410 miles) long, around half the globe, beginning in western India, crossing Bangladesh, central China and ending in theSouth Pacific.
Apart from being astonishing sights, solar eclipses also have led to discoveries about the sun, especially its outer atmosphere, the corona, which is normally hidden.
But one of the most remarkable studies was made on an eclipse 90 years ago to test Einstein’s theory of relativity. The British astronomer Arthur Eddington went to the island of Principe, off the west coast of Africa, to photograph the stars revealed near the sun during an eclipse. According to relativity, as the beams of starlight passed near the sun they would be slightly deflected by itsgravitational field. The day of the eclipse on May 28, 1919, began with a thunderstorm, and heavy clouds covered the sky. But by the time of the eclipse in the afternoon, the clouds began to part, although they still blotted out much of the sight. Only with seconds of the eclipse remaining did the sky clear enough for Eddington to take good photographs. They proved the theory of relativity correct and made Einstein world-famous.
Note: This information was collected from online news feed
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