Earlier today, the moon passed directly in front of the sun, causing a total solar eclipse that crossed nearly half the Earth - through India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and China. Today's was the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century, lasting as much as 6 minutes and 39 seconds in a few areas. Despite cloudy skies in many of the populated areas in the path, millions of people ga
![The longest solar eclipse of the century](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/d1495786ccbbb0411aa3f9a37bf43f873f564d94/height=288;version=1;width=512/http%3A%2F%2Finapcache.boston.com%2Funiversal%2Fsite_graphics%2Fblogs%2Fbigpicture%2Farchive%2F116240.jpg)