This year's only total solar eclipse — which took place over Antarctica on Saturday morning — has been revealed in stunning photos taken by a few of the lucky viewers who witnessed it from the southernmost continent.
The rare spectacle of the moon blocking out the sun reached its greatest extent at around 07:33 GMT for spectators near the edge of Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf, which was plunged into darkness for two minutes.
The eclipse provided a short respite from the long summer's day that Antarctica has been experiencing since October — in fact, the sun won't be setting there again until April.
Elsewhere in Antarctica, such as at Scott Base, the New Zealand Antarctic research facility, viewers were instead able to capture image of the partial solar eclipse which graced much of the southern hemisphere.
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This year's only total solar eclipse — which took place over Antarctica on Saturday morning — has been revealed in stunning photos taken by a few of the lucky viewers who witnessed it from the southernmost continent. Pictured: the total solar eclipse as seen from the Union Glacier in Antarctica
The rare spectacle of the moon blocking out the sun reached its greatest extent at around 07:33 GMT for spectators near the edge of Antarctica's Ronne Ice Shelf , which was plunged into darkness for two minutes. Pictured: darkness falls on the Union Glacier as the moon appears to block out the sun
The eclipse provided a short respite from the long summer's day that Antarctica has been experiencing since October — in fact, the sun won't be setting there again until April. Pictured: scientists observe the eclipse from the Union Glacier
Elsewhere in Antarctica, such as at Scott Base, the New Zealand Antarctic research facility, viewers were instead able to capture image of the partial solar eclipse which graced much of the southern hemisphere. Pictured: the partial solar eclipse as seen from Scott Base on December 4, 2021
Solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, casting a shadow on the Earth. There are various types, depending on how much of the Sun appears to be obscured to a viewer in a given location.
Solar eclipses only occur roughly every six months, a consequence of how the moon doesn't quite orbit in the same plane around the Earth as the planet does in its path around the sun.
On top of this, total solar eclipses are about three times rarer and are only seen by those in the 60–160-mile-wide path of the moon's shadow — which on Saturday cleaved an arc across the West Antarctica Ice Sheet.
The next total solar eclipse will not occur until April 8, 2024 but — unlike this weekend's limited-visibility spectacle — will be widely seen across swathes of Canada, Mexico and the United States.
In Europe, meanwhile, a total solar eclipse is not expected to occur this century.
For a total solar eclipse, all three of the celestial bodies must be in a direct line.
Viewers see the sky become very dark, just as if it were dawn or dusk, while it may also be possible to catch a glimpse the sun's corona, or outer atmosphere, around the moon's perimeter.
Under normal circumstances, the corona is obscured by the bright face of the Sun.
A similar phenomenon, an annual solar eclipse, occurs on those occasions where the moon appears slightly smaller than the sun, failing to completely block it out and leaving an 'annular ring' around it at the moment of greatest eclipse.
The next annular eclipse will cross North America on October 14, 2023.
Last week, NASA predicted that — while the weekend's total solar eclipse would go almost entirely unappreciated — many locations in the southern hemisphere would still have the opportunity to catch a treat.
'In some places, while viewers won't get to see the total solar eclipse, they'll instead experience a partial solar eclipse,' the space agency said in a blog post.
Partial solar eclipses
