Solar Eclipse

Superstition and science Superstitions followed the eclipse around the world, as they have for generations.
One Indian paper advised pregnant women not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip. Food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward because it will be impure, and those who are holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut themselves, the Hindustan Times added.
In Turkey’s earthquake-prone Tokat province, residents set up tents outside, despite assurances from scientists that there was no evidence of any link between eclipses and tremors. In August 1999, an earthquake in northwestern Turkey killed about 17,000 people just six days after a solar eclipse.
Along the path of totality, the moon blacked out the sun for up to four minutes. That is longer than most eclipses, which only last a minute or two, according to a NASA statement.
Total eclipses are rare because they require the tilted orbits of the sun, moon and earth to line up exactly so that the moon obscures the sun completely. The next total eclipse will occur in 2008.