7月22日上午，中國和印度部分地區迎來了壯觀的日全食。隨著日食的開始，中印兩國部分地區陷入黑暗之中。此次日全食是21世紀持續時間最長的一次，當地時間凌晨5點28分，印度首先迎來日全食。根據天文學家的預測，此次日全食持續時間將超過6分鐘。太平洋地區是觀測此次日全食的最佳地點，中國和印度將可以觀察到完整的日全食過程。

A total solar eclipse began its flight on Wednesday across a narrow path of Asia, where it was expected to darken the skies for millions of people for more than six minutes in some places.

A total solar eclipse began its flight on Wednesday across a narrow path of Asia, where it was expected to darken the skies for millions of people for more than six minutes in some places.

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century will be visible in a roughly 250 km-wide (155 miles) corridor, according to the US space agency NASA, as it travels half the globe and passes through India and China.

The eclipse began at 5:28 am local time (2358 GMT) in India and will last up to a maximum of 6 minutes, 39 seconds when it hits the Pacific Ocean, according to NASA.

Eclipses allow earth-bound scientists a rare glimpse at the sun's corona, the gases surrounding the sun.

Starting on India's west coast north of financial capital Mumbai, it took in the ancient Hindu holy city of Varanasi on the Ganges river.

Tens of thousands of people snaked through the narrow lanes of Varanasi and gathered for a dip in the Ganges, an act considered to lead to salvation from the cycle of life and death.

Amid chanting of Hindu hymns, men, women and children waded into the river with folded hands and prayed to the sun as it emerged in an overcast sky.

"We have come here because our elders told us this is the best time to improve our after-life," said Bhailal Sharma, a villager from central India, who came to Varanasi with a group of about 100 people.

The eclipse was due to sweep through Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and China's financial hub Shanghai, before heading to the Pacific.

"In the 21st century this is the longest," said Harish Bhatt, dean at the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

"This is indeed quite an important event for scientific experiments. Its long duration provides you an opportunity to make very complicated, complex experiments."

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