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Stargazers catch total solar eclipse around the world and in Northern Australia

IMAGES of a total solar eclipse impressed skygazers from around the world today, as some Australians also caught a glimpse.

Shoba Rao and wires
3 min read
March 9, 2016 - 1:20PM
News Corp Australia Network
Total solar eclipse being seen from Indonesia today. Picture: Supplied/YouTube
Total solar eclipse being seen from Indonesia today. Picture: Supplied/YouTube

A TOTAL solar eclipse is taking place today and skygazers around the world have seen it, as some Australians also caught a glimpse.

The eclipse unfolded over parts of Indonesia and the Indian and Pacific oceans and some parts of Australia and South-East Asia are witnessing the event.

On local time, those in far north Queensland saw it from about 11am, and it occurred in the Northern Territory by 10am, where there was a 50 per cent partial solar eclipse, most visible in Darwin, but with cloudy weather it was hard to see.

Western Australia saw a partial eclipse from 8am.

Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart unfortunately missed the eclipse.

It was also visible in Hawaii, east of the international dateline.

The rare event comes when the moon is close enough to Earth to completely block out the sun.

“We experience (eclipses) generally every year, one or two a year, but generally over oceans or land that is very remote or quite cloudy, so in theory they happen quite often but in practice they’re quite tricky things to observe,” astronomy enthusiast Geoff Carr told AAP.

He set up a telescope in Darwin’s CBD for a closer look at the overlap.

Total eclipses are considered a major event by umbraphiles, or “eclipse freaks” who are fanatical in their interest and will travel across the world to see one, Mr Carr said.

“It’s hard to put eclipses into words, it’s the colour, the light, you see the sun’s corona come out; it’s an absolute breathtaking event,” he said.

Often animals are very disoriented by a total eclipse, he said. “(In) my first eclipse the birds went completely crazy, they went rushing back to their nests thinking night had come on, they’d been fooled,” he said.

Photos from Australian skygazers in WA and Darwin have already started to trickle in.

A partial solar eclipse is seen over Darwin. Picture: AAP
A partial solar eclipse is seen over Darwin. Picture: AAP
Pete Scott watches the solar eclipse seen from Stokes Hill Wharf in Darwin, Northern Territory. Picture: Elise Derwin
Pete Scott watches the solar eclipse seen from Stokes Hill Wharf in Darwin, Northern Territory. Picture: Elise Derwin

But Darwinites who missed Wednesday’s partial eclipse are in for a long wait - the next total eclipse that will be visible to the top end isn’t due until 2450.

Some people caught a flight from Alaska to Hawaii for prime viewing of the eclipse.

A dozen eclipse enthusiasts were among the 181 passengers on the plane that departed Anchorage for Honolulu.

Joe Rao, an associate astronomer at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium in New York, called Alaska Airlines last fall, explaining that the flight would be in the right place for the eclipse. The route was expected to encounter the darkest shadow of the moon as it passed over Earth.

A partial solar eclipse is seen at Serangan village in Bali, Indonesia. Picture: AP
A partial solar eclipse is seen at Serangan village in Bali, Indonesia. Picture: AP

Problem was, the plane would be passing by nearly a half-hour too soon.

The airline said it rescheduled the flight to depart 25 minutes later, and it is expected to rendezvous with the eclipse’s sweet spot. After the schedule tweak, Rao and a dozen other astronomy aficionados booked seats for the big show at 36,000 feet.

A partial solar eclipse is seen behind a passenger capsule of the Singapore Flyer in Singapore. Picture: AP
A partial solar eclipse is seen behind a passenger capsule of the Singapore Flyer in Singapore. Picture: AP

Rao, like other self-dubbed “eclipse geeks,” was thrilled about setting out to witness his 11th such spectacle.

“It is an experience,” he said of watching the sun turn into a giant black disk in the sky.

“Every fibre of you gets involved in those few moments when the sun is totally eclipsed.” The eclipse is expected to last just under two minutes. The last total solar eclipse was in March 2015, and the one before that was in 2012.

More pictures emerged on social media of the solar eclipse from around the world:

Craig Small, a semi-retired Hayden Planetarium astronomer, was taking off to view his 31st total eclipse. If all goes according to plan, this event will put him over the 100-minute mark in experiencing eclipses.

To mark each viewing, Small carries a special eclipse flag made in 1972.

Also on board was Dan McGlaun, who brought 200 pairs of special filter glasses to distribute to other passengers. McGlaun, a project manager who runs eclipse2017.org, will be viewing his 12th total eclipse.

“It’s going to be amazing. It always is,” he said before boarding. “It’s a universal reaction when you see an eclipse. You cheer, you scream, you cry.”

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space/stargazers-catch-total-solar-eclipse-around-the-world-and-in-northern-australia/news-story/f86af6e64b61de757abc99053f1f48f3