Message #161189

[Bianca]

'Like the sun was wearing a diamond ring'



Cities not shrouded in rain clouds were able to observe stars and planets when the moon obscured all but the sun's ringed aura for six minutes and 39 seconds.

"At 9:11 a.m., it was completely dark," says Xiao Wei, an office worker reached by telephone in Chongqing, southwest of Wuhan. "But around the sun, there was a ring and a light spot with white and red light, like the sun was wearing a diamond ring."

Up in the east-coast mountains of Zhejiang Province, Adam Rosenberg of Scottsdale, Ariz., was thrilled to observe his seventh eclipse. His previous six, starting in 1998, were seen from Aruba, Hungary, Zambia, Australia, Libya, and the Gobi Desert.

"I started going on a whim but got hooked," he says. "There's something primal about watching the sun go out."

His fellow eclipse-chasers hailed from Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Four of the 10 in their group were eclipse "virgins," Rosenberg says.