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Solar eclipse wrap
A hybrid solar eclipse reached totality over Australia today.
In Exmouth, thousands of people from all over the world gathered to watch the partial eclipse slowly move across the sky until it completely blacked out the sun’s light for 58 seconds.
The eclipse was called “otherworldly,” “a unifying experience” and “one of the most exciting astronomical events on this planet” by eclipse-chasers. The dry red ground of a remote WA campsite became a melting pot of languages, ages, music, food and technologies – turning a solar viewing experience into a mismatch of Burning Man and Mad Max.
Across cloudier cities like Sydney and Melbourne, eclipse viewing was not so surreal (or was not possible at all). Nonetheless, across the country, people still looked to the sky with DIY sun catchers, hoping to see their reflection of a crescent sun nearby.
Had enough of seeing the crescent sun through shadows in trees and colanders today? No, you haven’t:
Partial solar eclipse through a colander 11 AM #Perth #WA #SolarEclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/vxNOvbAQ6B
— Dr Deepti Ruth Azariah 💉x3 (@perthinent) April 20, 2023
The solar #Eclipse shining through a palm tree - lots of little eclipses #Eclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/aTehbObpKK
— Gary McGhee (@gazmcghee) April 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/perthinent/status/1648887269309423616?s=20
Much of Twitter is interpreting today’s solar eclipse as a symbol of the death of 25yo K-pop star Moon Bin – member of boy band Astro who was found unresponsive in his apartment yesterday.
There will be a Solar eclipse today. It is when the moon passed between the earth and the sun, covering the light of the sun. how ironic isnt it
— - (@eunzaay) April 20, 2023
“On April 19, Astro member Moon Bin unexpectedly left our world and became a star in the sky,” said a statement posted in Korean early Thursday on Fantagio’s official Twitter page. It did not provide any information about the cause of death.
'One of the most exciting astronomical events on this planet'
Catherine Qu is a science writer with a team of astronomical photographers and scientists who visited Exmouth in WA for the solar eclipse. She decided to skip the equipment and watch the totality with her bare eyes.
One hour before totality, while teams of people were setting up telescopes and goggles, Qu went on a walk in search of local birds.
“I found lots of birds – parrots, seagulls, pigeons,” she says. “I wanted to see how they appear during the eclipse’s maximum.”
Near some bushes, Qu found pink parrots and watched the eclipse in their company.
“By the time the temperature fell, and everything got dark, they hid in the small grass, stopped walking, stayed silent.”
When the light came out again after the totality, she says the parrots flew away.
Qu says two things made today’s solar eclipse special.
First, it is a hybrid eclipse. “This means you can see both the annular and total eclipse at one time.”
“That is the fun part,” she says. “It is one of the most exciting astronomical events on this planet.”
Second, after the eclipse’s maximum, the eclipse’s prominence (cloud of incandescent solar gas projecting above the sun’s sphere and held in its corona of light) was “really huge”.
“You could see, it brought people to tears,” Qu says.
“The prominence is not always that big in past solar eclipses, so we didn’t expect it.”
Updated
In East Borneo Provence, Indonesia, the sun was left looking like a crescent moon:
The Hybrid Solar Eclipse 2023 😍🌙 from East Borneo Province 😌 pic.twitter.com/NDlXBWhw8t
— whydoyouleavemewith (@watercoloreyes5) April 20, 2023
And some more clouds …
Getting some cool effects of the partial solar eclipse using my sunglasses (&clouds - typical Melbourne 😆) as a filter ☀️🌕🌏 pic.twitter.com/aETUVmPWSM
— Dr Miranda Pitt (@Miranda_E_Pitt) April 20, 2023
Melbourne’s solar eclipse through some clouds:
Melbourne’s view of the #SolarEclipse eclipse isn’t anything too amazing…..
— Lynda Eckhart (@ellaycat) April 20, 2023
at 1.19pm or 2.20pm….. pic.twitter.com/yJUZCUqf2Q
'It was otherworldly'
Photographer on the ground Trent Mitchell describes the sky becoming dimmer, shadows becoming sharper, and the atmosphere becoming stiller as the eclipse reached totality in Exmouth a few hours ago.
“Looking up at the sun and the moon combined was one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever experienced in my life,” he says.
“You could see the outer corona of light wrapping around the moon with your bare eyes. You could see the energy flaring out from the sun behind the moon.”
“It was like nothing else I’ve ever experienced. It was otherworldly.”
Mitchell describes it as being in “this path of alignment”.
“Your place on earth at that moment, you feel really connected to everything, and that makes you feel super small.”
Updated
Behind a thin veil of clouds in Canberra, the solar eclipse looks a little spooky:
Total solar eclipse 20230420 as viewed from Canberra ACT 🇦🇺🐨🌤️
— Raitis Freimanis (@raitisfreimanis) April 20, 2023
Photo: Raitis Freimanis 📷 pic.twitter.com/yKeHe7jesB
Some more shots of eclipse-watchers from photographer Trent Mitchell:
‘A unifying experience'
Dr Sabine Bellstedt from the University of Western Australia is at Exmouth. She describes the moment of totality to me as beyond surreal.
First, there was a very sudden darkening that had been slowly approaching for 15 minutes. People started quietening, the temperature plummeted and the wind stilled.
“It was amazing to feel everything calm down around us,” she says.
As one minute turned to 30 seconds and then to 10 seconds, eclipse-watchers were overcome with bewilderment.
“I saw tears in eyes, goosebumps on arms.”
“With only 58 seconds of totality, it felt like there was too much that one wanted to see.”
From the eclipse itself, to the corona of light around it, then the whole sky where stars suddenly popped through, and the people on the ground gazing up in awe.
“It was too much to see in that short time,” Bellstedt says. “It was definitely overwhelming.”
As totality receded, everybody cheered.
The eclipse has begun here in Exmouth!! pic.twitter.com/xyubi8OfMH
— Dr Sabine Bellstedt (@SabineBellstedt) April 20, 2023
“It was a unifying experience,” Bellstedt says. “There were people with incredibly expensive video equipment, all the way through to people who arrived with nothing but solar glasses to look up at the sky.”
“There were so many languages floating around.”
“Linguistically, we couldn’t all communicate. But young, old, Australian, not Australia, we all came together, and were so excited to see little crescent shaped shadows on the ground,” Bellstedt says. “It was incredible.”
Now half an hour out from the totality, Bellstedt says it feels like “languid relaxation after a total high”.
“We are still marvelling at out own shadows,” Bellstedt says. “If we just hold up our hands against the light, we get weird extra fingers protruding between them.”
Weatherzone has collected some eclipse-related shots across Western Australia:
Great to see people coming together to watch the #solareclipse today! 📷 Here are some shots from our IG community across WA:
— Weatherzone (@weatherzone) April 20, 2023
1️⃣ retrofatale/IG 📍 Yardie Creek Gorge
2️⃣ dardsagainsthumanity/IG 📍 Canning
3️⃣ https://t.co/xJqfJWocaM 📍 Wonthella
4️⃣ thomas__fry/IG 📍 Barrow Island pic.twitter.com/fWTiRcJvVI
Watch the sky darken over waves of the Exmouth Gulf, as the solar eclipse reaches totality (in real time):
Here is the solar eclipse in real time from the Exmouth Gulf. #SolarEclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/5A583Z2E8u
— Chris Lewis (@a_film_maker) April 20, 2023
Updated
And in Perth, telescopes seem to do a comparable job to pinhole projections:
Partial solar eclipse in Perth was pretty cool today! 🔭🌙 pic.twitter.com/USt0dMpJt4
— Dr. Adelle Goodwin (@astro_del) April 20, 2023
From Dandenong, Victoria, we’ve got a pinhole projection (successful through the clouds!).
Pinhole projection from Dandenong #SolarEclipse (h/t @At_Raf_) pic.twitter.com/N4c66W8p3g
— Richard (@rogley8) April 20, 2023
Updated
In New Zealand, the eclipse will be far less dramatic than Australia - although still visible to sharp-eyed North Islanders with solar glasses.
Only a very slim segment of the Moon will pass in front of a sliver of the Sun, with the total eclipse covering between 1-3% of the surface.
The eclipse will only be visible in parts of the north island, with the south island outside the viewing zone. In Auckland, it’s expected that just under 2% of the sun will be eclipsed at 4.59pm. Further south in Wellington less than 1% of the sun will be eclipsed at 4.51pm.
Stardome Observatory and Planetarium warned local eclipse-hunters:
“It’s important to never look directly at the Sun with your eyes, and this solar eclipse is no exception. This event should only be viewed if you have solar glasses or a solar filter for telescopes, binoculars, and cameras.”
While Scott Bauer was capturing the sky, photographer Trent Mitchell got a good look at the people gazing up at it – and some are out there looking like protagonists of a vintage sci-fi novel set on a desert Mars.
Updated
Photographer Scott Bauer on the ground in Exmouth captured the moment of totality and if you squint you can see those solar filaments/fire from the underworld float around the eclipse.
Updated
Thank you correspondent of the sky Helen Sullivan! I will take the blog as we squint through the clouds in Sydney and Melbourne this afternoon.
Updated
With that, I’m handing over to my sun-like colleague Rafqa Touma, who will take you through the rest of the day’s partial eclipse sightings (and non-sightings).
“Fire from the underworld” is the technical term:
Thank you @helenrsullivan for educating me on solar filaments - what I interpreted as fire from the underworld (jokes but not rlly) https://t.co/quKpq3JUmy pic.twitter.com/DzsXpKCaFL
— Rafqa Touma (@At_Raf_) April 20, 2023
Sydney and Melbourne competing – typically – for the worst eclipse. Here is a photo from Melbourne eclipse / pinhole camera / ancient history / cloud correspondent, the Guardian’s Nick Miller:
Mehclipse pic.twitter.com/kF3lJPoRzV
— NickdMiller ❔ (@NickdMiller) April 20, 2023
Updated
Another tragic photograph from Sydney eclipse correspondent and Guardian Australia deputy editor Dave Munk – Sydney’s maximum view of the partial eclipse will be in about fifteen minutes, so those clouds had better get moving (they will not):
Exclusive: Sydney’s solar eclipse pic.twitter.com/WxQEY4WaCf
— david munk (@davidmunk) April 20, 2023
Updated
In 199 in the UK the buildup began days before on TV, while newspapers gave away free viewing glasses and the BBC shifted into “special event” mode, broadcasting hours of coverage from across the country. Incredibly, a special “eclipse” edition of EastEnders even went to air.
In the middle of the long summer holidays the eclipse became a useful distraction for parents, a way to fill the day making pinhole cameras out of cardboard before going outside to stare at the sun for a while.
So at age 11, glasses in hand, I stood with my family squinting at the sky, waiting for the moment. Perhaps we were too far away from the prime viewing location in Cornwall, or maybe it was too overcast, but the majesty was slightly lost on us. In the end, the sky slightly darkened and the dog barked. Perhaps that was as much as we could hope for.
Updated
Here are eclipse watchers in Jakarta – which reminds me of great quotes journalist Kate Lamb, formerly of this parish, got during the 2016 solar eclipse over Jakarta:
“I felt the greatness of creation when I saw it,” exclaimed Wiwi, a Jakarta resident, after witnessing it for the first time. “It’s so coooool,” said Fabio, age five. “The sun looks like the moon!”
One of the most-watched solar eclipses of all time was in 1999 – the eclipse happened to pass over a part of the world that was home to an enormous number of people.
I was 10 in Johannesburg South Africa and remember the huge buildup – free solar glasses in the newspaper, people asking if they could watch it through the tinfoil wrapping around teabags (this was before everyone had internet) and when the moment came, I was playing netball. We stopped, stared up at that big netball in the sky, everything went dark for a moment, and the game resumed. (Eclipses are better with liveblogs).
My colleague Warren Murray covered it for a newspaper:
I was working for the Independent newspaper group in Dublin and was sent by the Evening Herald paper to cover the 1999 eclipse at the Papal Cross in Phoenix Park.
Cornwall in England was the hotspot, but my angle was that Dublin would have clearer skies and still a near-total eclipse (magnitude 0.9253 out of a possible 1, according to the internet).
I remember arriving at the Papal Cross – built to mark Pope John Paul II’s visit – with a photographer and interviewing onlookers.
I filed my story over the phone to a copy taker – reading it out from my notepad to a telephonist back at the office, something I had never done before. Smartphones with email did not exist.
While on the phone, I was facing away from the sun, and the most memorable thing was the warmth of the returning sunshine spreading across my back as the shadow of the eclipse receded.
My story went on the front page as a sidebar and the headline was something like “View from Papal Cross was ‘clear-ly’ the best”.
We made much of the whole Cornwall thing being a bit of a dud.
I must have looked at the eclipse somehow, and I remember we drummed up a separate story of people being taken to hospital with eye injuries from looking at the sun. There were a lot of warnings, and guides on how to see it without going blind - pinholes in pieces of paper, special glasses and all that.
Updated
Here is a pretty fantastic video of the totality:
Totality from the Exmouth Gulf #SolarEclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/VBoloAPuI4
— Chris Lewis (@a_film_maker) April 20, 2023
Animals and insects act strangely during eclipses. Bees, for example, will stop flying mid-air the moment the totality happens:
Solar eclipses make some animals do strange things, and bees have been observed losing their buzz! pic.twitter.com/Xy3v5Bx4Os #SolarEclipse2023
— Australian Academy of Science (@Science_Academy) April 20, 2023
Too real:
Unreal. #Eclipse pic.twitter.com/4fiXcWDCPW
— Tom Fee (@thomfee) April 20, 2023
Three cheers for pinhole cameras:
Total solar eclipse here in Western Australia (my area only got about 70%, but super cool!) pic.twitter.com/kApCGLhtW9
— Claire G | Somewhere Beyond the Sea 🏴☠️ 🏳️🌈 (@ClaireGregoryAU) April 20, 2023
Let’s hear it for Wesley Garth:
Yes!! My son Wesley Garth nailed the photo of the Ningaloo total solar eclipse! Now… to post process! 😎🌑☀️#Exmouth #ExmouthEclipse #NingalooSolarEclipse pic.twitter.com/f7m2sck2P1
— JΛMΞS GΛRTH (@jgarth22) April 20, 2023
Solar filaments
At totality, and for a few moments afterwards, you can see small whispy bits emerging from the edge of the corona.
I like to call them “whispy bits”, but they are actually called “solar filaments”.
I’m not totally sure, but I think that that is what is pictured here:
You can still see what look like a few solar filaments here: pic.twitter.com/ZFzg7Qh1GI
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
Nasa explains them like this – and calls them “eruptive prominences”:
When viewed against the hotter surface of the sun, the cooler material in a prominence looks dark, resulting in a snaking filament of ‘shadow’ across the solar surface.
Eruptive prominences represent plasma entrained in a magnetic field but for which the magnetic and thermal pressures are unbalanced compared to the pressure of the external chromospheric and coronal plasma along with the sun’s gravity. The result is that the loop of plasma continues to grow and expand as it reaches greater heights above the photosphere.
There are so many ways to enjoy this celestial event, as my colleague Caitlin Cassidy knows:
Waiting patiently, clutching copy of Stephanie Meyers hit vampire novel "Eclipse" https://t.co/b5CJYdfoJL
— Caitlin Cassidy (@caitecassidy) April 20, 2023
A spookier daytime photo from Jakarta:
sometimes even the smallest things like this can heal ourselves inside..
— Asuka Nocturnia 🔪 【WorldEyeS-ID】 (@AsukaNocturnia) April 20, 2023
📍 Jakarta, Indonesia
📷 Sony Xperia XZ3#Gerhana #Eclipse #BMKG#GerhanaMatahari #SolarEclipse pic.twitter.com/wFysCWz2wE
We are tiny, insignificant beings on a giant planet in a terrifying and vast solar system whose size cannot possibly fathom. Yaaaay!
Town Beach cheers for totality 🌚🌞 #Eclipse2023 @9NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/VIiEmJbceN
— Tracy Vo (@Tracy_Vo) April 20, 2023
Bang those pots and pans! Batara Kala, god of darkness and the underworld, let the sun out of your mouth! Greeks, beware of dolphins:
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
The ring around the sun is a corona – a crown, as we all learned a couple of years ago in less fun circumstances.
And the sun has been totally eclipsed by the moon pic.twitter.com/zMGBaLCU6n
— Rafqa Touma (@At_Raf_) April 20, 2023
Updated
The totality
The moon has covered the sun, in perfect alignment with the earth. I’m scared, are you scared? What if it stays like that? (It won’t):
THE TOTALITY pic.twitter.com/grRPEzN41g
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
One minute to go – it’s getting darker and about to get a lot spookier:
Getting darker #eclipse2023 #exmouth pic.twitter.com/UQGx9vhMcM
— Paul Gamblin (@Paul_Gamblin) April 20, 2023
Barely even a sickle! Three minutes to go!
A sickle! Five minutes to go! pic.twitter.com/BLmr5SGlBI
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
Another colander:
Totality is approaching!! pic.twitter.com/TP595d3TXx
— Dr Sabine Bellstedt (@SabineBellstedt) April 20, 2023
Just to clarify, the eclipse will be happening in seven minutes’ time in Exmouth – but later than that elsewhere in Australia.
People looking very relaxed considering it is almost time for shadow snakes:
#exmoutheclipse #ningalooeclipse pic.twitter.com/TQEeegc5k0
— Paul Gamblin (@Paul_Gamblin) April 20, 2023
Here is where you will and won’t be able to see the solar eclipse in Australia, thanks to senior BOM meteorologist Miriam Bradbury:
It is looking good in Exmouth and Perth, WA, with sunny and good conditions.
In Darwin, NT, and Brisbane, QLD, it will be partly cloudy – and in Adelaide, SA, it will be mostly cloudy, so you won’t have as good a view.
The lowest visibility of the eclipse will be Melbourne, VIC, Hobart, TAS, and Sydney, NSW – especially given how partial it will appear in these areas. (Very sad for me in Sydney.)
Here is a video from BOM which looks at the conditions across the country for the solar eclipse: https://youtu.be/huTtBGNOPn4
Updated
Disco ball leaf shadows
During a solar eclipse leaves act as a kind of pinhole camera so that you get this spectacular phenomenon – countless tiny crescent moons appear on the ground:
You can see the eclipse in the trees now!! Check it out #Australia and especially #Perth 😁 #Eclipse2023 #SolarEclipse2023 #NingalooEclipse @ash_gillon @SkyNewsAust @CSIRO_ATNF https://t.co/bOEJqt6JJn pic.twitter.com/IET4mE042L
— Vanessa Moss (@cosmicpudding) April 20, 2023
Updated
My heart is beating faster – is it the eclipse? Or blogging the eclipse?
Our life-giving sun is now a tiny slice:
A mere sliver: pic.twitter.com/mvZUPROm4P
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
Just over 15 minutes to go now – and watch closely, because when it happens, it will last for just 30 seconds:
Anticipation building. Vantage points occupied. 20 mins to go! #exmoutheclipse #ningalooeclipse pic.twitter.com/f2eEzojaNP
— Paul Gamblin (@Paul_Gamblin) April 20, 2023
Eclipse is fully underway! @AberUni pic.twitter.com/JeigRxVxxe
— Prof. Lucie Green (@Dr_Lucie) April 20, 2023
A glorious image from Exmouth of people (safely) staring at the sun:
We’re getting close, very close:
Crescent sun! pic.twitter.com/PXe3alaxhc
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
Here is a take on eclipses from 648BC – sent to me via our Melbourne eclipse / pin hole camera / ancient history correspondent, my colleague, Nick Miller, who says that the weather in Melbourne is unfortunately “increasingly cloudy”.
Archilochus, a poet from the island of Paros, 2,500 years ago:
Nothing’s unreasonable, nothing too much, nothing stunning,
now that Zeus the Father of the Gods has cloaked the light
to make it night at noontime, even though the sun was shining.
Terrible dread has fallen upon men. From here on out
all that we human beings have assumed will be in doubt,
and no one should be shocked to see, in briny acres, land
animals, walking creatures, having sex with dolphins, when
their four legs come to love the sounding waves more than the sand,
and dolphins with their flippers come to love a mountain glen.
There is just half an hour to go until the totality in Exmouth, where it is currently just before 11am.
The totality will start at 11:29:48 am local time and be at its maximum just under 30 seconds later, at 11:30:17 am.
More footage from Town Beach:
What a perfect day in a perfect location to see the #Ningaloo #TotalSolarEclipse! pic.twitter.com/gprEKbpcCG
— Mark Cheung (@markcheung) April 20, 2023
And more footage of people watching the eclipse through colanders:
James is watching the solar eclipse at Town Beach in Exmouth through a colander (genius) pic.twitter.com/3mOUP0QaA5
— Rafqa Touma (@At_Raf_) April 20, 2023
Interplanetary scintillation!
Very soon, @sauronschedules will kick off our @CSIRO_ATNF #ASKAP observing of #Eclipse2023! The data will be used to study interplanetary scintillation and the solar wind 😄 Rapid imaging being done by the ever-amazing @elenchically 📸 #CRACO @pleasefftme @coronarajan @Wm2Hz pic.twitter.com/Gw6rKJcHhE
— Vanessa Moss (@cosmicpudding) April 20, 2023
In some countries people spend eclipses chasing demons, giants and gods away with pots and pans.
In East Timor, Guardian reader and adjunct professor at the University of Fiji Dr Peter Nuttall tells me, “This occurred the second night after I arrived … in 2000 and we were suddenly surrounded by a huge crowd of people wailing and beating anything metal as hard as they could”.
And another: pic.twitter.com/9GoslUBhqx
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
It is a magnificent day on the beach in Exmouth:
Town Beach gathering for #Eclipse2023 @9NewsPerth pic.twitter.com/UAXGL3WQBY
— Tracy Vo (@Tracy_Vo) April 20, 2023
'Burning man meets Mad Max'
David Jeremy Claxton is sitting in his car at Town Beach watching the partial eclipse move across the sky.
His journey from Melbourne to Exmouth took a few days. “We have been camping and waiting a long time for this.”
Around him are people with telescopes and cameras – some with cardboard and tinfoil cut outs taped over lenses as DIY filters, others holding up colanders to the sky.
One group of eclipse-watchers from Japan built their own telescope at the site. “I looked through it, and it is amazing,” Claxton says.
He says there are people from all over the world, and the camp-sight has a “mismatched feel”.
“Like Burning Man meets Mad Max”.
“There are a lot of Mad Max type cars with huge bull bars and solar panels taped all over them,” he says.
“Then there are people with 10 or 20 telescopes all set up on tripods.”
A fellow eclipse-watcher who had seen an eclipse in Shanghai told Claxton “all the fish started jumping out of the water”.
“So that would be amazing,” he says.
Updated
Here is where the eclipse is up to now:
And now, we're almost at what looks like a half moon in this picture, but is in fact a half sun: pic.twitter.com/H6dqfsNmH5
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
This is your regular reminder not to look directly at the sun.
Use solar eclipse glasses or a welding mask. Do not under any circumstances look directly at the sun through a telescope.
From Nasa: “Do NOT look at the Sun through a camera lens, telescope, binoculars, or any other optical device while wearing eclipse glasses or using a handheld solar viewer – the concentrated solar rays will burn through the filter and cause serious eye injury.”
And another reminder: you can send me your eclipse, non-eclipse, pinhole camera, colander, sky and other relevant pictures on Twitter @helenrsullivan – the best way is to tag me in a tweet with the picture. You can also send questions and comments via DM, or get in touch on email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
Here is our guide to watching the eclipse safely:
'Like burning man, but for eclipse geeks'
It is just before 10.30 in Exmouth and photographer Trent Mitchell is anxiously anticipating the totality, which is expected in an hour:
“We were told not to photograph it, just to enjoy it,” he says.
The solar eclipse event is expected to last just one minute. So Mitchell has set up a 30 second stopwatch. First he will view the eclipse. Then he will rush against the clock to operate the camera for 30 seconds.
“I’ll be lucky to get a great shot on the first time,” he says. “We’ve been shooting for over 20 years, but feel out of our depth.”
“It is a bit of a rush. It feels intense.”
He travelled from QLD to Perth, then to Exmouth, to document the eclipse for Guardian Australia, accompanied by photographer Scott Bower. The journey took over 16 hours. The 50,000 people are in Exmouth today include everyone from time eclipse-seekers to veterans with more than 20 eclipses under their belts.
Mitchell says it feels like a festival: “Like Burning Man, but for eclipse geeks.”
“There is quite a lot of anticipation,” he says. “We are at the heart of it.”
““I’m talking to you, watching red dust flying around.”
Mitchell says it is like people have come here from every corner of the earth. “There are people from all over the place, and quite possibly the most camera equipment Scott and I have ever seen.”
“There are families, dogs, people from Japan with 40 telescopes lined up.”
“And all in this remote area. It is quite the contrast.”
Eclipse begins
It appears that today Batara Kala is concentrating (and hungry) – the eclipse has started and we can see the first bite taken out of the sun:
I'm liveblogging today's hybrid solar eclipse – and here is our first view of the moon moving in front of the sun: pic.twitter.com/l848W1Fxey
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
In Indonesian mythology, eclipses happen when Batara Kala, the god of darkness and the underworld, swallows the sun. Here is a comic strip drawn for the 2016 solar eclipse in Indonesia – with Batara Kala forgetting to eat his fiery prey because he is too busy taking a selfie:
Foodporn #komikfaktap #faktap #foodporn #gerhana #gerhanamatahari #gerhanaindonesia #indonesia #butokala #batarakala pic.twitter.com/us0kVIbl8M
— FAKTAP (@KomikFaktap) March 7, 2016
Here are photos of people getting their telescopes (which appear to be covered in tinfoil, likely with a hole poked in the middle) ready in Exmouth, Australia – one of the places that will experience “the totality”, or the total solar eclipse in all its glory.
And thankfully, the skies look pretty blue:
It is currently just after 10 am in Exmouth and the eclipse is just beginning – the totality will start at 11:29:48 am local time and be at its maximum just under 30 seconds later, at 11:30:17 am.
Total solar eclipse live stream
Here is our livestream of the eclipse:
Clouds are no match for the Solar Wind Sherpas, the intrepid band of scientists from around the world who are in Exmouth today.
They’ll be sending a kite up into the sky to make sure that even if it is cloudy, as much data as possible can be gathered:
How do you study an eclipse if clouds get in the way?
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) April 18, 2023
During a total solar eclipse in Australia this week, scientists will fly a NASA-funded experiment on a kite to loft it above any clouds and study the Sun’s outer atmosphere.
Find out more: https://t.co/4X8XCbWIn6 pic.twitter.com/13LMW4anVx
We heard earlier in the blog from head sherpa Shadia Habbal, an astronomy professor at the University of Hawaii (read that post here) who is in Exmouth. She brought the kite after travelling recently all the way to Antarctica to study the sun’s outer atmosphere, only to be thwarted by clouds.
Nasa explains in more detail what she will be looking for:
The experiment will fly a spectrometer called ALIMAS (for Advanced Low Intensity Multiplexed Astronomical Spectrometer). Spectrometers can separate light into its component wavelengths, revealing details such as elemental composition, temperature, and motion.
With this information, Habbal hopes to better understand how charged particles – namely, electrons, protons, and other heavier elements – escape the Sun through the corona to form the solar wind, an ever-flowing stream that fills the solar system. Most of the action happens close to the Sun, in the inner part of the corona, which we can view briefly only during total solar eclipses.
Habbal is also trying to learn more about the origins of features that emerge in the inner corona, such as towers of plasma called prominences and explosive eruptions called coronal mass ejections, which blast solar material into the solar system.
Another update from our man on the ground in Melbourne: there are clouds, lots of clouds, and a growing threat of another scientific phenomenon called an “ehclipse”, which is where you look up at the sky and say, “eh?”.
Melbourne’s weather is notoriously unreliable, so this change is not unexpected – but could also not be permanent. There is still hope.
What is a solar eclipse?
Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the sun and Earth.
“In order for a solar eclipse to happen, the moon has to be perfectly blocking the sun – it has to be at the right height and alignment,” says Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University.
“The moon bobbles up and down by about five degrees so it’s not always perfectly aligned. You also have the fact that the distance the moon is away from the Earth changes all the time – it varies by about 40,000 to 50,000km.”
In a total eclipse, the sun is fully obscured by the moon. If the moon is a bit further away from Earth, it doesn’t cover all of the sun, resulting in an annular eclipse, in which a fiery ring of sunlight is visible. In a partial eclipse, as the name suggests, the view of the sun is partially blocked.
Phases of a Solar Eclipse 🌙 pic.twitter.com/jtw0j0qWyK
— Shining Science (@ShiningScience) April 14, 2023
Total solar eclipses are not rare events – they occur about once every 18 months. But for one to recur at the same point on Earth takes about 375 years, on average.
The solar eclipse that will occur on Thursday is what’s known as a hybrid eclipse, says Tanya Hill, the senior curator of astronomy at Museums Victoria.
“It begins over the Indian Ocean as an annular eclipse, where the moon is slightly too small to completely block the sun and a ring of sunlight shines out from around the dark moon,” she says.
“By the time the moon’s shadow reaches land, it will become a total eclipse – the moon now appears large enough to completely block the sun.”
Updated
Here is the sun making its first appearance in Exmouth this morning:
Sunrise today from the Exmouth Gulf #SolarEclipse2023 pic.twitter.com/0FbIkYsnXf
— Chris Lewis (@a_film_maker) April 19, 2023
A reminder that you can send me your eclipse, non-eclipse, pinhole camera, colander, sky and other relevant pictures on Twitter @helenrsullivan – the best way is to tag me in a tweet with the picture.
You can also send questions and comments via DM.
What will people see in Australian cities outside Western Australia?
In Australia, only lucky viewers in the state of Western Australia will be able to experience the total eclipse. People in other parts of the country will be outside the area totally covered by the moon’s inner shadow. In other states, the event will be a partial eclipse, with the sun only being obscured to varying extents.
Perth will reach maximum eclipse at 11.21am local time, Melbourne at 2.09pm and Sydney at 2.29pm. Darwin is the capital city that will come closest to totality, reaching maximum eclipse at 1.52pm. Here again is a breakdown of eclipse times in several Australian capital cities, from when the partial eclipse begins, to maximum eclipse and when the partial eclipse ends:
The magnitude of the eclipse – the percentage of the sun covered – varies a lot from place to place: from a total eclipse (100%) in Exmouth to just 13% in Hobart. Sydney (19% of the sun covered), Melbourne (21%), Canberra (19%), Brisbane (27%) and Adelaide (32%) will see much less of an eclipse than cities including Perth (77%) and Darwin (85%).
Along Australia’s east coast, only a partial eclipse will occur. Dr Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University says, “The sky won’t dramatically change. But if you do have equipment you would notice that part of the sun’s missing. In some ways, it’s kind of cool because you can still see the sun looking like Pac-Man.”
This is what an eclipse looks like as viewed through a welding mask, another safe, if less common, viewing device:
This is what people look like watching eclipses through welding masks:
Here is when people in Australia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand can see the partial solar eclipse:
Our Melbourne eclipse and pinhole camera correspondent Nick Miller reports that the explainer from Nasa on how to make a pinhole camera is “hilariously over-engineered”.
Here is his explainer: “You just need to poke a hole in a piece of paper with a pen.”
My personal favourite solar eclipse viewing device is the colander, a kitchen implement so large that it should – and as it turns out, can – do more than one thing:
OMG - get out your colanders -hurry - they work as a solar eclipse pinhole camera too #EclipseDay #EclipseSolar2017 pic.twitter.com/pLwruUus84
— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) August 21, 2017
Updated
If you have cardboard, tape, tinfoil and a paperclip you too can make a pinhole camera:
Check out this easy guide from @NASA to create a pinhole camera so you can safely view the #eclipse this morning. Remember: it is unsafe to look directly at the sun.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Western Australia (@BOM_WA) April 19, 2023
🌘🌑🌒
How-to guide: https://t.co/TWoVzlKxn0 pic.twitter.com/NVq2sTiC8i
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Meanwhile in Melbourne, people are feeling good about their chances of seeing the partial solar eclipse: the skies are blue.
“It’s lovely and sunny here in Melbourne, and I plan to be out at 2pm with my pinhole camera. Might also try the colander trick,” says Guardian Australia’s morning news editor, Nick Miller, who I am reliably informed has constructed his own pinhole camera.
Perfect eclipse weather! Wish we were getting a bigger eclipse than 21% in Melbourne though. pic.twitter.com/vAVToWvSQy
— NickdMiller ❔ (@NickdMiller) April 20, 2023
Among those in Exmouth, Australia today are the Solar Wind Sherpas, an international team of scientific adventurers who have tracked solar eclipses across the Sahara and Mongolia, in Svalbard and Antarctica.
There are 13 sherpas and they come from countries including Germany, the Czech Republic and the US.
Their head sherpa, Shadia Habbal, is an astronomy professor at the University of Hawaii. Habbal says they will be studying the sun’s corona, its “fast bursts of energy” in its active regions.
She’ll be watching out for “loops”, she told my colleague Tory Shepherd.
“There are these dense and very hot arches, what we call loops, around the sunspots, there is a group of them that’s going to be visible off the west loop, the right side of the sun,” she says.
The sherpas will set up cameras and spectrometers and use special filters that show up the corona in different colours, correlating to how hot they are.
This year, for the first time, they will fly a kite above any clouds, 1,000 metres into the air with a spectrometer on board.
“These data is really unique, despite the fact we have so many spacecraft in orbit. None of them can gather these observations, starting from the solar surface,” Habbal says.
“This is the critical region of the corona.”
Eclipse chasers from all corners of the globe have descended on a tiny Western Australian town to watch the sun disappear behind the moon.
About 20,000 people will see the total solar eclipse from Exmouth, population (normally) about 2,800 – the gateway town to the Ningaloo Reef and its famous whale sharks.
It will be a rare hybrid eclipse, lasting about three hours. For about a minute, at 11.29am local time on Thursday, the Earth, moon and sun will align perfectly, the moon covering the sun’s disc. There will be a shimmering corona, like a halo around the moon, and the stars and planets will become visible. The temperature will drop. Animals will start acting strangely.
The eclipse will pass directly over Exmouth, where crowds will gather in dedicated viewing areas. As the sky goes dark, others will watch from boats and ships and from parts of Timor-Leste and Indonesia. The rest of Australia will be able to see a partial eclipse.
In Sydney, Australia, it seems unlikely that people will be able to see much of the eclipse at all – the sky is completely covered in cloud. All the more reason to follow along here – we’ll have the latest from eclipse chasers in Exmouth, Western Australia.
Guardian Australia deputy editor Dave Munk is on the ground in Sydney with this sad photograph:
The view of the eclipse to be eclipsed by cloud in Sydney. @helenrsullivan pic.twitter.com/8lJbYMVLdh
— david munk (@davidmunk) April 20, 2023
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What to expect
Shadow snakes. A syzygy. A moment unsettlingly called “the totality”.
For those standing in the shadow of today’s total eclipse, things are going to get weird.
When the sun, moon and Earth line up perfectly it is called a syzygy (and eliminates the earthly need for vowels). Then, acorrding to Mark Cheung, the Deputy Director of Space & Astronomy at Ausralia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation:
The temperature drops, the land and the sea look different, and the stars come out. When the moon completely covers the Sun, the faint solar corona becomes visible.
Just before the corona, an uncanny phenomenon happens: faint shadows slither across the ground. Known as shadow bands or shadow snakes, they’re caused by the refraction of light through the earth’s atmosphere – the same phenomenon that causes stars to twinkle causes these shadows to dance.
You can see them faintly in this video:
There is still time to rush out and get your solar eclipse glasses. Only approved glasses will absorb the appropriate wavelengths of visible, ultraviolet and infrared light. Here is how to spot a safe pair – they must:
Be bought from reputable vendors to ensure they are not counterfeits.
Display the correct safety certification (ISO 12312-2).
Not be scratched, cracked or show any other signs of damage.
Fit your face properly so no gaps let light in (check they fit over your usual glasses if you need these to see normally).
Be checked by looking at a lamp or lightbulb – only light from the sun should be visible through genuine eclipse glasses. This check doesn’t risk eye damage provided the previous steps have been followed.
Our celestial livestream will start in 30 minutes, so stay tuned. Coming up in the meantime: more on shadow snakes, the totality, coronas, and a sun-eating god of the underworld.
When you can see the eclipse
The total eclipse path will swoop from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, mostly over water. For those viewing the total eclipse, it will last a little over a minute.
The partial eclipse, though also brief, will be seen by many more people: here is where and when you can see it in cities in Australia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand (UTC):
When and where people in cities in Australia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand can see the partial solar eclipse today - via https://t.co/665deXPKcJ: pic.twitter.com/qc391oytTp
— Helen Sullivan (@helenrsullivan) April 20, 2023
What is a 'hybrid solar eclipse'
Hybrid solar eclipses are rare – there have been only a few in the last 100 years. There is a clue in the name – the way that the sun, moon and Earth will align today means that the eclipse is a combination of two kinds – annular or total, depending on where you are in relation to the moon.
Tanya Hill, the senior curator of astronomy at Museums Victoria explained it like this to my colleague Donna Lu:
“It begins over the Indian Ocean as an annular eclipse, where the moon is slightly too small to completely block the sun and a ring of sunlight shines out from around the dark moon,” she said.
“By the time the moon’s shadow reaches land, it will become a total eclipse – the moon now appears large enough to completely block the sun.”
Updated
Where and when to watch the eclipse in Australia
In Australia, only lucky viewers in the state of Western Australia will be able to experience the total eclipse. People in other parts of the country will be outside the area totally covered by the moon’s inner shadow. In other states, the event will be a partial eclipse, with the sun only being obscured to varying extents.
Here is a breakdown of the eclipse times in Australian cities:
Here is our full explainer on when, where and how to safely watch the eclipse in Australia:
Opening summary
Today is the day: the Earth, moon and sun will line up perfectly, causing a rare type of total solar eclipse called a hybrid solar eclipse. It is a phenomenon that occurs just a handful of times every 100 years.
People in parts of Australia, Timor-Leste and Indonesia will have the best view of it: for a few moments it will, if the sky is clear, totally change their surroundings.
But it will be visible in some form across Australia and Indonesia and in parts of New Zealand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.
My name is Helen Sullivan and I’ll be bringing you the latest. Before we begin: the same rules apply today as on any other day – don’t stare straight at the sun unless you are looking through a safe material. The best is eclipse glasses (ISO number 12312-2).
You can also watch through a homemade pinhole camera, a colander or a welding mask, if you happen to have any of these things handy.
Follow along for a list of viewing times, reactions from eclipse watchers, and the weirdest things that we can expect, including crescent moon-shaped disco ball-like lights and, more ominously, “shadow snakes”.
And please do send me your pictures, comments and questions on Twitter @helenrsullivan or via email: helen.sullivan@theguardian.com.
