Yesterday a total solar eclipse was visible across parts of the South Pacific.
About a year ago we wrote "Nothing is quite so forlorn as
eclipse photographers all turned out, gear at the ready, with nothing
but clouds to photograph." That was in response to the disappointing weather along the path of the huge 22 July, 2009 eclipse across Asia (which had a maximum totality of 6:39 off the Japanese coast).
After our abortive trip to see it, we studied the maps and reluctantly decided that the odds of cloud cover were too high for yesterday's eclipse, visible across the South Pacific, Easter Island and coming ashore at sunset near Patagonia's magnificent Torres del Payne.
Mere odds, naturally, didn't stop people from trying their luck. Japan's Wakayama University sent a team, which has posted an eight minute video from the time around totality. In case you're an eclipse fan, or just enjoy a good adventure, I won't dare tell you how their adventure ended, you can watch here. If you don't feel like you have the eight minutes to spare, I'll tell you after the jump.
(After an agonizing run-up, in which the sun was in and out of clouds,the Japanese team and the good people of Hao, a French Polynesian atoll about 1000 kilometers east of Tahiti, saw totality, in between the clouds, for a very, very fleeting maybe five seconds.)
There are a few total eclipse photos on EarthPhotos.com.)
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