Last 20th century eclipse sweeps into clouds

(top to bottom) Before, during and after the total eclipse over Cornwall, England
INTERACTIVE Eclipse preparations around the world VIDEO CNN's Ann Kellan reports on the eclipse and its path across Europe. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K  ALSO: Iraqi astronomers gather in Mosul to watch eclipse Live Web streams of the eclipse: NASA: Eclipse '99 Exploratorium: Live Webcast from Europe and Asia Eclipse '99 - The Irish Times View from ship Normandy, positioned off the French coast Satellite images: From EUMESTAT

August 11, 1999
Web posted at: 7:27 a.m. EDT (1127 GMT)

(CNN) -- Despite downcast weather reports and intermittent rain, some viewers in Britain were able to at get at least a partial view Wednesday of the millennium's last full solar eclipse.

Forecasters had predicted only a 15 percent chance that the eclipse would be visible, due to cloudy weather.

Hundreds of thousands of sky watchers stood in awe as the sun passed behind the moon, starting at 6:11 a.m. EDT -- midday in Cornwall, England where the eclipse first hit land. The event darkened the cloudy skies, making it seem like dawn.

The eclipse began when the shadow of the moon completely covered the sun at 0931 GMT off Canada's east coast near Nova Scotia and started a three-hour-long, 2,400 km (1,500 mile) an hour race across the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

The eclipse will end when the sun sets in the Bay of Bengal off India at about 1230 GMT, by which time an estimated two billion people will have cautiously gazed skywards.

Many Indians believe that eclipses are the work of Rahu and Ketu, two overwhelming celestial figures of Hindu mythology, who between them swallow the sun.

Only passengers paying $2,400 for a ticket on the Concorde supersonic airliner were lucky enough to join the chase as day turned into night.

The last eclipse before the millennium first reached land at Britain's Scilly Isles and then within a minute swept ashore at Cornwall.

The population of the Isles of Scilly, usually 2,000 people, has been quadrupled by an influx of eclipse watchers.

A British Royal Air Force Hercules aircraft flying above the clouds over Cornwall was beaming back live pictures.

Eclipse takes a victim

In Berlin, a 24-year-old German was the first victim of the eclipse when he was taken to hospital with severe burns after he climbed a power pylon to get a good view and then touched the 20,000-volt electricity cable.

France and Germany were next in line after Britain. Then comes Hungary. The Romanian capital of Bucharest is the only European capital directly in its path. The point of greatest eclipse -- as the moon's axis passes closest to earth -- is set to fall on the Romanian town of Rimnicu Vilcea for two minutes and 27 seconds.

Nature is turned upside down for the rare celestial event.

Temperatures drop by as much as 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Birds stop singing, dogs howl and badgers come out of lairs.

Warplanes patrol Iraqi skies

U.S. and British warplanes were patrolling the skies of northern Iraq as normal on Wednesday, despite a solar eclipse watched by astronomers on mountain campsites in the area, said a spokesman for the allied force.

Eclipse watchers in Cornwall brave bad weather to catch a glimpse of the phenomenon

Iraq said the Western jets attacked a fourth-century Christian monastery in northern Iraq on Tuesday, killing and wounding a number of people at a camp set up for the astronomers to watch the eclipse.

Iraqi authorities had asked the United Nations to request the Western allies to put the flights, dubbed Operation Northern Watch, on hold for a day so that Iraqis and scientists from Egypt, Libya and Syria could watch the eclipse in safety.

Pope John Paul, a keen astral watcher, will have a bird's eye view of the eclipse as he flies by helicopter from the Vatican to his summer residence south of Rome. Palestinians in self-ruled Gaza mostly heeded health ministry advice to stay home and avoid the eclipse's dangers.

It will be the last total eclipse seen in Western Europe until 2081.

The further it goes across the globe, the better are the chances of clear skies for eager eclipse watchers gazing at the heavens -- despite all the warnings of blindness from health experts.

In the Iranian city of Isfahan, where many astronomers have gathered, the chances of a perfect view rise to 96 percent.

Reuters contributed to this report.