On 22 July 2009 the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century was photographed from the Pacific Ocean on board Costa Classica cruise ship in the maximum totality region. The total eclipse was observed for 6 minutes and 42 seconds, even 4 seconds more than the maximum predicted time because of the ship's motion (chasing the shadow) along the eclipse track. The above series of images, from left to right, shows the first diamond ring (seconds before the totality), the total eclipse with the solar corona, and the second diamond ring right after the totality.