Many on totality’s track stay indoors, giving in to superstition
TAREGNA, India - The longest solar eclipse of the 21st century created near darkness in daytime, along a swath that stretched from India to China and the South Pacific.

Millions gathered in the open to watch the spectacle, but millions more shuttered themselves inside their houses, gripped by fearful myths.

One Hindu fable says eclipses are caused by a dragon-demon that swallows the sun, but modern-day astronomers have a less threatening explanation: They say the phenomenon occurs when the orbital mechanics are just right for the moon to cover the sun completely, casting a shadow on Earth.