eclipse will occur over the Pacific Ocean at six minutes , 39 seconds , people in some areas of China and Japan will experience up to more than six minutes of darkness , according to predictions by Fred Espenak of NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center and J. Anderson of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada . Watch as eclipse-watchers head to China '' The 15,150-kilometer -LRB- 9,415-mile -RRB- journey of the moon 's shadow across the Earth will last nearly three-and-a-half hours and be `` one of the longest eclipses , if not the longest eclipse , in this century , '' Binzel said . Forecasters predict stormy weather for Wednesday morning in Shanghai , but this prognosis has not deterred astronomers and tourists from flooding the city . Send us your photos of the eclipse Professor Zhao Junliang of the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory said the weather could be unpredictable but staying away from such an historic event would be a mistake . `` In 1987 , I chased a total solar eclipse in -LRB- the western region of -RRB- Xinjiang . At the time , the sun was entirely blocked by stormy clouds . Two minutes before the
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Skywatchers are gathering from parking lots in western India to music festivals on remote Japanese islands to witness what NASA describes as an `` exceptionally long '' total solar eclipse that will cross half the planet on Wednesday . People try out '' solar view goggles '' ahead of the eclipse on the outskirts of Ahmedabad , India . `` This eclipse has the potential to be observed by more people than any eclipse in all of history , '' said MIT astronomer Richard Binzel , who will be in Shanghai leading an expedition of observers and a group of eclipse chasers . `` Essentially , every inhabitant of all of India and China will be able to see at least part of the sun covered throughout the day , '' he said . The path of the total eclipse will stretch across the heart of Asia -- from India 's Bay of Cambay , over the Himalayas and across China and the southern islands of Japan . The eclipse is expected to reach its peak over India at around 12:40 a.m. GMT Wednesday -LRB- 8:40 p.m. ET Tuesday -RRB- . Though the duration of greatest