10 Jul 2010

Total eclipse across South Pacific on Sunday

4:21 pm on 10 July 2010

Astronomers are preparing for one of nature's most spectacular astronomical events - a total eclipse of the sun.

But unlike last year's eclipse, which was watched by millions of people in China, this could be one of the least observed.

The ABC reports that the moon's umbral shadow will cross the South Pacific Ocean, making landfall on the Cook Islands at 8.22am local time on Sunday morning (7.22 am NZ time).

It will then travel over Easter Island and end soon after reaching Patagonia in southern Chile and Argentina.

Some eclipse scientists and tourists will observe totality from smaller islands or atolls in French Polynesia or from specially chartered aircraft and ships.

Rare chance to study corona

For scientists it is a rare chance to study the sun's outer atmosphere, also known as the corona.

Professor Jay Pasachoff of Williams College in Massachusetts, who is also chairman of the International Astronomical Union's Working Group on Eclipses, has set up a base on Easter Island.

His team will be taking high-resolution images of the eclipse, looking for motions in the corona. They will compare their images with those taken from Polynesia, the Cook Islands and an aircraft flying near Tahiti.