Solar Eclipse January 15, 2010

Said to be the longest solar eclipse of the millennium, the phenomenon started at around 3:49PM Philippine time which lasted for 2 hours.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that the eclipse was annular which means that the moon will block our view of the sun but not totally hiding it, leaving its edges still visible, thus representing a “ring”. The moon remained in the middle of the sun approximately 11 minutes, 8 seconds according to NASA which will not be followed until the 23rd of December, 2043.
Astronomers said that the best place to witness the eclipse was at Maldives (aren’t the guys there REALLY LUCKY? Aside from enjoying their vacation or for any reason of being their, they also witnessed the phenomenon that will not happen for the next 1,000 years at a staggering duration of over 10 minutes). The sight of the “ring” was also witnessed in Central Africa, Southern India, Northern Sri Lanka, and in some parts of Myanmar and China.
In the Philippines, however, only partial solar eclipse was witnessed wherein a portion of our view of the sun was blocked by the moon, at around 15-20 percent.
Although not recommended, I still managed to capture some images of the solar eclipse using my Canon 500D with different filters stacked. The following shots were taken using only the kit lens of the camera (18-55mm).

Shot taken at 4:33PM (Philippines).

Shot taken at 4:48PM with settings adjusted to illuminate cloud formation.

Shot taken at 4:50PM with filters detached from lens and held 20 inches away.

Shot taken at 5:15PM using Monochrome settings.

Shot taken at 5:27PM with settings adjusted to prevent blurring of fence.