KAMPALA, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- People in the Ugandan capital Kampala witnessed the longest annular solar eclipse of the millennium Friday morning.

    The eclipse began at 7:06 am local time (0406 GMT) and ended at around 10 am (0700 GMT) with the eclipse reaching its maximum at 8:25 am (0525 GMT) when the photosphere of the sun was covered by the moon, forming a ring of fire in the sky for more than 7 minutes.

    The solar eclipse, one of the longest of the millennium and the longest until December 23, 3043, drew mixed reactions from residents here.

    "I am really so excited. This is the first time I see this kind of phenomenon in my life," said Flavia Kakooza, a passer-by at Nakasero market in downtown Kampala.

    "It's the first time I am seeing eclipse with my naked eyes. I don't know when it will occur again. I hope I will be alive to witness another occurrence of this," said an old woman selling hertomatoes in the market.

    For some, it did not meet their expectations. "It wasn't something serious. I learnt about it in school," said Joel Michael Mwajje.

    "I wanted it to make the whole place dark," said disappointed Janet Amito, an employee of a microfinance bank.

    The path of the moon's antumbral shadow begins in Africa and passes through Chad, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia.

    After leaving Africa, the path crosses the Indian Ocean where the maximum duration of annularity reaches 11 minutes and 8 seconds. The central path then continues into Asia through Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, and China.

    A partial eclipse will be seen within the much broader path of the moon's penumbral shadow, which includes eastern Europe, most of Africa, Asia, and Indonesia.