December 9, 2023

(NewsNation) — A photo voltaic eclipse awed hundreds in Australia as one girl captured video of the totality.

Exmouth, a small vacationer city, was top-of-the-line locations to view the occasion in Australia. The trail of the eclipse additionally crossed elements of Indonesia and East Timor. Some viewers traveled hundreds of miles to witness the eclipse, which was a uncommon hybrid eclipse.

Nearly all of this eclipse handed over water, making it tougher to view.

Photo voltaic eclipses happen when the moon passes between the solar and the Earth, briefly blocking the solar from view. Eclipses will be annular, the place a small ring of the solar is seen, or complete, the place your complete solar is obscured.

This most up-to-date eclipse was a uncommon hybrid photo voltaic eclipse, which occurs when an eclipse could also be complete or annular relying on the place it’s seen from.

Such celestial occasions occur about as soon as each decade: The final one was in 2013 and the following one isn’t till 2031. They happen when Earth is within the “candy spot” so the moon and the solar are nearly the very same measurement within the sky, stated NASA photo voltaic skilled Michael Kirk.

At some factors, the moon is just a little nearer and blocks out the solar in a complete eclipse. However when the moon is just a little farther away, it lets a few of the solar’s gentle peek out in an annular eclipse.

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“It’s a loopy phenomenon,” Kirk stated. “You’re truly watching the moon get bigger within the sky.”

A number of different upcoming photo voltaic eclipses shall be simpler to catch. An annular eclipse in mid-October and a complete eclipse in April 2024 will each cross over thousands and thousands of individuals within the Americas.

The Related Press contributed to this report.