Century's longest solar eclipse wows millions
Thursday, 23 July 2009
Millions of Bangladeshis witnessed the century's longest total solar eclipse amid cheers as well as fears as the rare astronomical event shrouded particularly the northwestern Panchagargh in darkness soon after the sunrise, reports BSS.
"Thousands of people packed into a sports stadium here and applauded as the moon covered the sun, but the event frightened many people in nearby villages as they were not aware of the unusual astronomical incident," a resident of Panchagargh town told BSS over telephone.
He said, many of the farmers working in paddy fields screamed in fears and took refuge indoors thinking it to be the doomsday as the rare celestial event was best observed from the northern districts.
"The four minutes of total eclipse was largely clear though clouds shrouded the sky a little for a while for sometime . . . we could not even see anything only within a distance of 200 feet during the event," Nishat said.
A local journalist reached from here over cell phone said, people including a number of foreigners filled the stadium hours before the eclipse took place and when the moon covered the sun some people cried while the entire arena erupted in thunderous applause as soon as the sun emerged again.
Bangladesh Astronomical Society officials said, as many as 30 million people fell in shadow of the full eclipse in Bangladesh as the moon's shadow swept halfway across the world, from India, over China and out into the Pacific Ocean along the centre line of the Earth.
"Thousands of people packed into a sports stadium here and applauded as the moon covered the sun, but the event frightened many people in nearby villages as they were not aware of the unusual astronomical incident," a resident of Panchagargh town told BSS over telephone.
He said, many of the farmers working in paddy fields screamed in fears and took refuge indoors thinking it to be the doomsday as the rare celestial event was best observed from the northern districts.
"The four minutes of total eclipse was largely clear though clouds shrouded the sky a little for a while for sometime . . . we could not even see anything only within a distance of 200 feet during the event," Nishat said.
A local journalist reached from here over cell phone said, people including a number of foreigners filled the stadium hours before the eclipse took place and when the moon covered the sun some people cried while the entire arena erupted in thunderous applause as soon as the sun emerged again.
Bangladesh Astronomical Society officials said, as many as 30 million people fell in shadow of the full eclipse in Bangladesh as the moon's shadow swept halfway across the world, from India, over China and out into the Pacific Ocean along the centre line of the Earth.