Viewing the Solar Eclipse Online

The solar eclipse that took place on Friday, best visible from the Maldives, lasted 11 minutes and eight seconds, making it the longest solar eclipse that will occur for one thousand years.

The U.S. space agency NASA created a special Web site dedicated to the annular solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes in front of the son but doesn’t completely block it, creating a ring of sunlight surrounding the moon. The next eclipse that will exceed it in duration will take place on December 23, 3043.

Friday’s eclipse was visible on a 185-mile stretch beginning in Africa, where the shadow’s path moved east from Chad and travel across the Indian Ocean to Bangladesh, India, China, and Myanmar, according to NASA.

A number of news agencies posted photo galleries and videos documenting the eclipse path from locations in Africa and Asia.

And the New York Times’ Tierney Lab is featuring updates from astronomers who have journeyed to Kanyakumari, at the southern tip of India, and are chronicling their observations of the solar eclipse.