SHANGHAI will be one of the best spots in the country to witness a total solar eclipse in 2009, an occasion that won't happen again until 2309.

The eclipse, predicted to take place on July 22, 2009, will be visible in the lower-and-middle section of China's Yangtze River and Shanghai is the best location to appreciate the spectacle, the Shanghai Oriental Morning Post reported today.

The last total solar eclipse occurred in 1575 while the next after the 2009 one is expected on June 9, 2309, according to Chinese and British scientists talking at a forum in Shanghai.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and the earth.

For local watchers, the eclipse will begin at 8:23am Beijing time as the moon's shadow moves across the surface of the sun's western edge, the report said.

It will take just over an hour for the moon's shadow to cover the sun. By 9:39am the sun will be completely hidden in the shadow and will begin emerging again at 9:41am, the report said.

The total solar eclipse is expected to last for about two hours and 25 minutes while the solar corona, the best part of an eclipse, may last for five minutes and four seconds in Shanghai, Zhao Junliang, director of the Shanghai Observatory told the newspaper.

The solar corona may be visible for five minutes and 28 seconds in Wuhan, Hubei Province, five minutes and 29 seconds in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, five minutes and 56 seconds in Jiaxin, Zhejiang Province and two minutes in Hefei, Anhui Province, Zhao added.

But the eclipse will not be visible in Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and the Purple Mountain Observatory, a renowned astronomy authority in China, may miss the occasion because it's not in the belt, he said.

The chance of rain in Shanghai on the day of the eclipse is currently listed at 4.4 percent, Zhao said.

Generally speaking, solar eclipses happen two to five times every year around the world, the report said.

Shanghai witnessed a total solar eclipse at 2:35pm on May 10, 1575, which lasted for only two minutes and 31 seconds.

The city also witnessed an annular solar eclipse on September 23, 1987.

City residents were able to watch a lunar eclipse on August 28 of this year.