Thousands in Western Australia got to see an amazing spectacle on Thursday – a total solar eclipse.
Those in the small tourist town of Exmouth, in Western Australia, experienced their entire sky turning dark for around 60 seconds, as the moon casting a huge 40km shadow over them.
If you wanted to see the total solar eclipse, this was the only place to go. As one Exmouth viewer, Henry, told ABC News the event was “mind-blowing”.
Normally Exmouth’s population comes in at under 3,000 – but this celestial event drew in an extra 18,000 people this week.
The remarkable event was the first solar eclipse of this year. That’s when the moon casts a shadow on the Earth during its inclined orbit in between the world and the sun.
This can be defined as a total eclipse, when the moon obscures the sun altogether, or an annular one, where the moon is conceals almost all of the sun apart from an outer ring. The latter only happens where the moon is further away from the Earth in its orbit.
This occasion was particularly special because it was a combination of a total and annular solar eclipse, depending on where people were based in the world.
Throughout the 21st Century, this “hybrid eclipse” has only happened seven times – the last time was in November 2013. The next one isn’t due to occur until November 2031.
Away from Exmouth, people apparently had the best views in Timor-Leste and West Papua. But, as it began at sunrise in the Indian Ocean and ended at sunset in the Pacific, millions in Singapore, Jakarta and Manila got to see it too – although they may have only been treated to a “partial” eclipse.
Still – it’s hard to deny the beauty of this natural phenomenon.