Solar eclipse is seen in this picture taken in Beijing's suburban Huairou District, July 22, 2009. Solar eclipse starts at 8:15 in Yinchuan, Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Scientists said it will be the longest eclipse until the year 2132. [Xinhua].

It was raining in Shanghai, at the time of the eclipse, at 9:35 A-M.

Only street lamps were left on, as the city turned off all landscape lighting in a bid to allow people to enjoy the aura of solar corona.

Some other cities along the path of the full solar eclipse also adopted similar measures.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the earth, blocking out the sun from the areas in the moon's shadow.

Without the sun's light, the sun's corona makes a spectacular halo around the moon.

Scientists say the next total eclipse is expected on July the 11th, 2010.

They say it will cross the South Pacific, only seen from the Cook Islands and Easter Island.

(CCTV July 22, 2009)