China to live broadcast longest total solar eclipse worldwide

BEIJING, July 17 (Xinhua) -- Worldwide audience will be able to watch the longest solar eclipse in China in this century through TV, Internet and mobile phones on July 22, said the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS) National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) here Friday.

Four stations for live broadcasting will be set up in Chongqing, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shanghai cities, where the total eclipse can be observed, said Hao Jinxin, NAOC deputy director.

Six stations will be set up in Beijing, Kunming, Urumqi, Taipei and Hong Kong where partial eclipse can be seen, he said.

Video programs from these stations will be sent through headquarters in Beijing to TV stations, websites and service providers of mobile phones for free, he said.

Broadcasting will last from 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on July 22.

The broadcasting project was sponsored by NAOC, Microsoft Research Asia, CAS Computer Network Information Center and Shanghai Astronomical Observatory.

The coming total solar eclipse will be the longest that can be observed in China between 1814 and 2309, according to NAOC.

An area of 250 km wide and 10,000 km long, where people can observe the total eclipse, covers the populous Yangtze River valley including several big cities.

In this area, people can observe four to six minutes of total eclipse, said Cheng Zhou, astronomer with the CAS Purple Mountain Observatory based in Nanjing of eastern Jiangsu Province.

However, the location to observe the longest eclipse on July 22,which will last six minutes and 40 seconds, is off the eastern Chinese coast, he said.

In China, Shengsi Islands on East China Sea will be the location to watch the longest eclipse of six minutes and one second, he added.