If you look up into the sky you will see a  beautiful sight -- a solar eclipse!  If you live in Beijing that is.  The solar eclipse that takes place on August 1, 2008 will be a total eclipse of the Sun with a magnitude of 1.039 that will be visible from a narrow corridor through northern Canada (Nunavut), Greenland, central Russia, eastern Kazakhstan, western Mongolia and China. It belongs to the so-called midnight sun eclipses, as it will be visible from regions experiencing midnight sun, according to Wikipedia.

Two interesting things about solar eclipses:  (1) People will spend thousands of dollars to stand in the shadow of the moon (particularly this solar eclipse), and (2) animals are freaking out right now.

A solar eclipse messes with animals.  I mean it becomes dark in the day time, and they didn't get the press release about the solar eclipse so they're not prepared.

Our ancestors actually came up with a fantastic explanation for the blocking of the Sun in broad daylight. The usual suspect was a demon. His name was Rahu and he, rather his severed head, was blamed for causing the mischief.

We now know what we the earthlings perceive as a solar eclipse is actually the shadow of Moon blocking the Sun to a varying degree. When the blockade is complete, it is called the total solar eclipse.

The next time that we, here in America, will experience a solar eclipse in in 2017.