Rare blot on the sun (+video)

AARON HART

MOON, SUN, EARTH: New Zealand was one of the few place where a rare partial eclipse of the sun could be viewed as the moon, Earth and sun came into line.

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Kiwis  were treated to a rare partial eclipse of the sun for two hours as the moon, Earth and sun came into line.

New Zealand, a small chunk of New South Wales and Antarctica were the only populated places to see the event yesterday.

The moon started its slow creep about 4.50pm, peaking an hour later to obscure 50 per cent of the sun.

Alex Rimoldi, from Auckland's Stardome Observatory, said that, despite the centre being closed for renovation, a handful of staff sneaked in to watch the eclipse.

Such an event over New Zealand was quite unusual. A partial eclipse of the sun last came our way a decade ago and another will not be seen till 2012.

If a watcher did not know it was happening, a partial eclipse would escape the senses, unlike a total eclipse, which sank the Earth into darkness for several minutes, he said.

"Even though it's blocking out a decent chunk of the sun, it's not enough to actually make much of a difference to the sunlight."

- © Fairfax NZ News