S. Koreans wowed by longest solar eclipse in century

(ATTN: CHANGES headline; UPDATES throughout)
SEOUL, July 22 (Yonhap) -- Amateur stargazers and astronomical experts across
South Korea flocked to parks, streets, beaches and rooftops Wednesday to witness
the country's longest solar eclipse in this century.

The phenomenon, which occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth,
began in the capital city of Seoul at 9:34 a.m., moving south over the central
city of Daejeon and the southern port city of Busan.
The eclipse on Wednesday was the longest of this century, as it lasted over two
hours and 40 minutes.
While a total solar eclipse could be seen in some other Asian countries such as
India, Nepal, Bangladesh, China and Japan, South Korea witnessed only a partial
eclipse, although it was the largest since 1948.
An annular eclipse took place on May 21, 1948. During an annular eclipse, the sun
appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, around the outline of the moon. The
last total solar eclipse visible above the peninsula occurred on August 19, 1887.
Skywatchers from Seoul to as far as the country's southernmost resort island of
Jeju witnessed the rare sight, which astronomers do not expect will reoccur on
the Korean Peninsula until 2035.
"This is a rare opportunity for South Koreans to watch the solar eclipse, as the
2035 total eclipse will be visible only in North Korea," said Lee Dae-seop, a
college student who volunteered with the government-backed Korea Astronomy and
Space Science Institute (KISA), which handed out free solar eclipse goggles on
streets around Seoul.
South Korea will witness the next largest eclipse, which will be annular, in
October 2041, according to KISA.
During Wednesday's event, around 80 percent of the sun appeared covered from most
regions in the direct path of the eclipse.
"It looks as if it were a half-moon," said Kim Tae-hyung, 30, who looked up at
the sky from a street in southern Seoul, which offered the best weather to watch
the eclipse.
Some observers took photographs of the event with digital cameras or mobile
phones, hoping to record the moment.
At the national solar observatory in Daejeon, about 160km south of Seoul,
researchers and some hundred citizens started to gather early in the morning to
watch the space show with astronomical telescopes.
When the clouds cleared away at 10:15 a.m., observers were awed at the marvelous
scene.
"The moon started to eat the sun bit by bit," said eight-year-old Lee Joo-hyun,
who visited the site with his family. "It would have been great if it were a
total eclipse. I am looking forward to the next total eclipse."
At 10:48 a.m., the eclipse reached its maximum coverage of more than 93 percent
of the sun above Jeju Island, the closest point in the country to Okinawa,
Japan's southernmost prefecture.
"The more you go south, the larger the eclipse was," said Kim Rok-soon, a
researcher at KISA. "Although some parts of the country were cloudy, it was not
difficult to observe the eclipse during the two hours and 40 minutes."
Some school children on summer vacation, built pinhole cameras to watch the
phenomenon.
In the city of Busan, some 700 people gathered along sandy Haeundae beach to
observe the occasion. They had to wait in a line 100m long to use 10 astronomical
telescopes installed.
The official Web site of KISA, which broadcast live video streams of the eclipse,
was temporarily shut down as it was overwhelmed with Internet users.
The major portal sites Naver and Daum also provided the live video from several
locations in the country and reported some difficulties in showing the video
streams as too many users clicked to see the momentous occasion.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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