Tourists, Scientists Delight at Rare Total Solar Eclipse
Thousands of tourists and scientists got a look at a rare total solar eclipse that temporarily plunged parts of the Pacific and Latin America into darkness on Sunday.
The path of the eclipse crossed the Pacific Ocean over the Cook Islands and Easter Island before reaching southern Chile and Argentina.
During a total solar eclipse, the moon inserts itself between the Sun and the Earth, and casts a shadow on the Earth.
The BBC reported that in Tahiti, where the eclipse began, crowds of usually football-crazy fans ditched the World Cup final playing on television to get a look at the celestial show.
"It was like the Sun was smiling," the news agency quoted one eight-year-old. "The Sun seemed like a horizontal crescent, then the Moon covered up the bottom of the Sun which reappeared again as a crescent."
