Thousands of stargazers gathered in a distant Australian city to witness a "spectacular" uncommon photo voltaic eclipse.

About 20,000 individuals descended on Exmouth, which has a inhabitants of simply 3,000, after the city was promoted as among the best vantage within the nation to see the celestial occasion.

The eclipse plunged elements of Australia's northwest coast into darkness round noon native time on Thursday, with the temperature immediately dropping 5C (9F) because the moon's shadow enveloped the area.

Crowds arrived days upfront to safe the most effective viewing spots, tenting on a purple, dusty plain on the sting of the city with cameras and viewing tools pointing skywards.

Retired British astronaut Major Tim Peake, who watched the eclipse in Exmouth, described the expertise as "surreal".

He advised Sky News: "It was the last few moments when it suddenly got very dark very quickly, very cold, all the wind stopped, the animals went quiet, birds went down to roost, (it was a) very spooky almost eerie, surreal experience, it was unbelievable.

"It was superb to be surrounded by 1000's of individuals and simply to see that emotional human response to such an unnatural scenario, watching it go darkish in the course of the day," he added.

NASA astronomer, Henry Throop, who was additionally amongst these assembled in Exmouth, hailed the eclipse as "mind-blowing".

"It was so sharp and so bright, you could see the corona (the outermost layer of the sun's atmosphere) around the sun there," he mentioned.

"It's only a minute long, but it felt like a really long time. There's nothing else you can see which looks like that. It was just awesome. Spectacular."

Mr Throop, from Washington, mentioned Jupiter and Mercury had been additionally seen, including: "Even seeing Mercury at all is pretty rare. So that was just awesome."

Meanwhile one other stargazer, Julie Copson, travelled greater than 600 miles (1,000km) from the west coast port metropolis of Freemantle to witness the phenomenon.

"I felt so emotional, like I could cry," she mentioned.

'Crazy phenomenon'

The eclipse was a "hybrid" not seen since 2013. This means, relying the place viewers stand, the moon covers the solar in a complete eclipse or obscures the centre leaving a "ring of fire" in an annular eclipse.

Hundreds watched the eclipse, partially obscured by clouds, on the Jakarta Planetarium in Indonesia's capital.

The name to prayer echoed from the town's mosques when the eclipse section started - with Muslims saying eclipse prayers as a reminder of God's greatness.

The eclipse, tracked from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, was additionally seen from East Timor, situated east of Australia and Indonesia.

They occur when the earth is within the "sweet spot" so the moon and solar look like virtually precisely the identical dimension within the sky, NASA photo voltaic skilled Michael Kirk mentioned.

"It's a crazy phenomenon," Mr Kirk mentioned. "You're actually watching the moon get larger in the sky."

Millions of individuals will get the prospect to view an annular eclipse on 14 October this yr, when it crosses North, Central and South America.

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NASA mentioned it can start within the US, travelling from the coast of Oregon to the Texas Gulf Coast and climate allowing, will likely be seen in Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas, in addition to elements of California, Idaho, Colorado and Arizona.

It will proceed to Central America, passing over Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Panama. In South America, the eclipse will journey by means of Colombia earlier than ending off the coast of Natal, Brazil, within the Atlantic Ocean.

Content Source: information.sky.com