Eyes to the sky as solar eclipse crosses globe

The shadow of the moon falls on Earth as seen from the International Space Station. Nasa / Getty Images

CAPE COAST, Ghana - Clapping, dancing, praising God or raising telescopes, crowds from West Africa to Central Asia gazed skywards as a total solar eclipse cast a shadow across a vast band of the planet on Wednesday.

"This shows the greatness of God. This shows the greatness of nature. It is very, very beautiful," said Ghanaian Nana Appah on Cape Coast beach, the first spot to see the eclipse easily.

Some viewers though lost their nerve and hid for fear of hurting their eyes. "I preferred to watch it on TV because the government insisted it was dangerous for one's health," said bar manager Julien Agban in Togo's capital Lome.

One financial astrologer said its effects could yet be felt in falling share markets.

Henry Weingarten, managing director of the Astrologers Fund in New York, said he saw a correction of at least 10 per cent in the Dow Jones Industrial average over the next 90 days following the eclipse, which came a day after a widely expected US interest rate rise.

The complete track of the eclipse stretched from eastern Brazil, across the Atlantic to north Africa, then on to the Middle East, Central Asia, west China and Mongolia.

The longest view -- four minutes and seven seconds -- was at Libya's Wao Namus settlement near the Chadian border 2,000 km south of Tripoli.

The air cooled and an eerie half-light descended over the ancient slave fort at Cape Coast, west of Ghana's capital Accra, as the moon crept across the face of the sun.

Cries of "Hallelujah" and "Praise the Lord" rang out as watchers shouted and clapped in excitement, sharing protective glasses. Drivers hooted their horns.

Crowds turned out on streets, balconies and rooftops in more countries to the east. Governments warned people not to risk damaging their sight by viewing the eclipse with the naked eye.

Blair Wilkins, a researcher of ancient myths and legends, travelled to Egypt's pyramids from Britain for the eclipse.

He said he had waited 18 years for the event since finding a stone artefact that depicted an eclipse in the pyramids area thousands of years ago.

"I didn't know what would happen ... There are so many unanswered questions. You never know, maybe the pyramids will open up and aliens will come out of them," he said with a smile.

Crowds gathered on the Greek island of Kastellorizo, the only spot in Europe where the total eclipse was visible. Birds fell silent on the island, which in ancient times worshipped the sun god Apollo.

Partial solar eclipses are fairly common, but total eclipses are rarer. They involve the moon totally obscuring the sun within a specific corridor more than 100 km wide.

In northern India the eclipse was only partial, but the scale of the response bigger than anywhere else.

Hundreds of thousands of Hindus dipped in holy rivers and ponds to rid themselves of sin and ward off what they believe are the ill effects of the phenomenon.

"This gives me a great feeling of salvation and rids me of evil," farmer Ram Narayan said after taking a dip in Allahabad.

At Cape Coast, African and US academics organised a conference to coincide with the event.

"In the past, people were scared, they believed that the sun was god and that the eclipse meant something was wrong with the sun," said Tanzanian Felix Chami, a professor of archaeology.

At Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome, American and Russian astronauts waiting to be launched into space on Thursday offered reporters contrasting comments on the phenomenon.

US astronaut Jeffrey Williams called it "an example of what has fascinated people throughout history and has inspired people for discovery and exploration, to understand why things like that happen".

Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov seemed less impressed. "I certainly don't have either bad or good feelings about it," he said.

"Maybe it meant something to ancient Egyptians but we now understand that it's just the moon passing between the earth and the sun. It's nothing terrible."

- REUTERS