Of all the types of eclipse we can witness, a total solar eclipse ranks as the most spectacular and awe-inspiring. This breathtaking natural phenomenon occurs when the Moon, moving in its orbit, passes between the Earth and the Sun, casting its shadow across the Earth (as in the diagram).

From our viewpoint on Earth, the Moon appears to move in front of the Sun, gradually covering up more and more of the Sun’s disk and blotting out the daylight. When the Sun is completely covered over by the Moon, an eerie silence descends, the sky turns dark and everything is enveloped in a deep twilight. Confused birds stop singing and return to their roosts, farm animals go to their pens to sleep, while the brighter stars and planets become visible in the sky. For a brief moment, we can see the Sun’s corona – its pearly white outer atmosphere - around the outside of the eclipsed Sun. To see a total solar eclipse, you need to be in exactly the right place: within an 80-100km strip of the eclipse’s centre line. Outside this narrow strip, you’ll only see a partial eclipse. Totality only lasts for a short while and never more than seven and a half minutes before the Sun’s rays become visible once more.

Warning! Never look at the partial phase of a total solar eclipse unless you are looking through an appropriate solar filter: otherwise, you may permanently damage your eyes. Only totality – when the Moon covers the Sun completely, is safe to observe with the naked eye.

Calendar of Solar Eclipses

• Date: 7 February 2008
  Eclipse Type: Annular
  Where: Antarctica
• Date: 1 August 2008
  Eclipse Type: Total
  Where: Russia, Mongolia
• Date: 26 January 2009
  Eclipse Type: Annular
  Where: Indonesia
• Date: 22 July 2009
  Eclipse Type: Total
  Where: Asia, Pacific
• Date: 15 January 2010
  Eclipse Type: Annular
  Where: Africa, Asia
• Date: 11 July 2010
  Eclipse Type: Total
  Where: Pacific, S. America