Millions of people in Asia will see the longest total solar eclipse this century as swathes of India and China are plunged¹ into darkness.

亚洲数百万人将会看到本世纪持续时间最长的一次日全食，届时印度和中国将会被笼罩在黑暗之中。

Scores of amateur（业余的） stargazers（看星星的人，天文学家） and scientists will travel long distances for the eclipse, which will last for about five minutes.

The eclipse will first appear in the Gulf² of Khambhat just north of Mumbai.

It will move east across India, Nepal, Burma, Bangladesh, Bhutan and China before hitting the Pacific.

The eclipse will cross some southern Japanese islands and will last be visible from land at Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific nation of Kiribati.

Elsewhere（在别处）, a partial eclipse will be visible across much of Asia.

Taking shelter

In India the village of Taregna, near Patna, has been swamped（淹没） by researchers expecting a particularly clear view of the eclipse.

"We are hoping to make some valuable observations on the formation of asteroids³（小行星） around the sun," scientist Pankaj Bhama told the Associated Press news agency.

But pregnant women in India were advised to stay inside, following beliefs that the eclipse could harm a foetus（胎儿）.

"My mother and aunts have called and told me stay in a darkened room with the curtains closed, lie in bed and chant prayers," said Krati Jain, a software worker in New Delhi who is expecting her first child.

In eastern China, heavy cloud or rain was expected to make it virtually impossible（根本不可能） to see the eclipse.

The previous total eclipse, in August 2008, lasted two minutes and 27 seconds.

This one will last six minutes and 39 seconds at its maximum point.

'Special opportunity'

Alphonse Sterling⁴, a Nasa astrophysicist（天体物理学家） who will be following the eclipse from China, scientists are hoping data from the eclipse will help explain solar flares⁵（喇叭裤） and other structures of the sun and why they erupt（爆发）.

"We'll have to wait a few hundred years for another opportunity to observe a solar eclipse that lasts this long, so it's a very special opportunity," Shao Zhenyi, an astronomer⁶ at the Shanghai Astronomical⁷ Observatory⁸ in China told the Associated Press.

Solar scientist Lucie Green, from University College London, is aboard an American cruise ship（游艇） heading for that point near the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where the axis⁹（轴） of the Moon's shadow will pass closest to Earth.

"The [Sun's] corona¹⁰（电晕） has a temperature of 2 million degrees but we don't know why it is so hot," she said.

"What we are going to look for are waves in the corona. ... The waves might be producing the energy that heats the corona. That would mean we understand another piece of the science of the Sun."

The next total solar eclipse will occur on 11 July next year. It will be visible in a narrow corridor（走廊） over the southern hemisphere, from the southern Pacific Ocean to Argentina.