Tomorrow at approximately 2:15PM Eastern Standard Time (EST), a total solar eclipse will darken parts of New Zealand, South Africa, and some of the South Pacific Islands, including Easter Island.
The solar eclipse will only be visible in a narrow area, just 155 miles wide, as it crosses the Pacific Ocean, ending at the Southernmost part of South Africa at 4:52 EST.
Total solar eclipses are a very rare phenomenon, as totality exists in only a narrow range along the moon's umbra.  A total eclipse occurs when the dark silhouette of the Moon completely obscures the intensely bright disk of the Sun, allowing for only the much fainter corona of the sun to be visible at any point.  For those who are unaware of the eclipse ahead of time, the event can be quite disconcerting, as the sky goes dark in the middle of the day with very little, if any, notice.
If you're anywhere near in the small scope of the eclipse that will be visible, make sure to check it out. Â Total solar eclipses are rare events, occuring on Earth every eighteen months on average, but only in the same place once every several hundred years.
In my lifetime, I don't recall ever witnessing a total solar eclipse. Â Hopefully I'll have the chance next time around!
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