Tomorrow morning will give people a rare chance for novice astronomers to see a partial eclipse of the sun that won’t be repeated in New Zealand skies for another 16 years.
A partial eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly between Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the Earth.
The effect will be most impressive in the north of New Zealand, as more of the sun will appear to be covered by the moon.
Aucklanders will see around 87 percent of the sun covered while the east coast of Northland will see 91 percent.
The next eclipse with similar coverage will not occur over New Zealand until 2028, and Auckland will not see a better solar eclipse until 2035.
The shadow of the Moon creates a 180km wide path of total black out that travels from west to east across the Pacific.
The only part of land in the world to see the sun totally blocked will be in the north of Australia.
Thousands of eclipse enthusiasts will be congregating in Queensland, while others will be viewing the eclipse from cruise liners and aircraft positioned along the path of totality across the Pacific.
In Auckland, the partial eclipse will reach maximum coverage at 10:28am and end at 11.44am. Times will vary at a bit in other centres.
PLEASE REMEMBER : Viewing the sun directly without a safe solar viewer was very dangerous and can cause permanent blindness.
4 Responses
this is really cool i wonder what time it will start next time and the date i would realy love to see that
that will never happen and how will that happen
when the moon goes infront of the sun
GOOD FOR YOU