Total Solar Eclipse Tomorrow (But Few Will See It)

A total eclipse of the sun occurs tomorrow, but don't be so quick to take out your special viewing glasses. Unlike recent solar eclipses, this year's complete blotting out of the sun will be visible only in a narrow slice of the Southern Hemisphere. The spectacle begins at sunrise some 1,200 miles northeast of New Zealand. The moon's shadow will sweep across the South Pacific, darkening skies over the Cook Islands, Easter Island, and parts of southern Chile and Argentina.

"I am sad that so few people will be able to view this year's eclipse since it doesn't pass over major cities," said Williams College astronomer Jay Pasachoff, who's in the Easter Islands with a small group of students. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and Earth—the moon blocks the light from the sun and casts a shadow on Earth. (More solar eclipse stories.)