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ScienceLatin America

Total solar eclipse wows people in Chile, Argentina

December 15, 2020

Tourists and stargazers gathered in parts of Chile and Argentina to witness the phenomenon. Thousands of people defied restrictions on movement due to coronavirus and forecasts of heavy rains to see the rare event.

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The eclipse seen from northern Patagonia in Argentina
The eclipse seen from northern Patagonia in ArgentinaImage: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo/picture alliance

Tourists and stargazers have gathered to see a total solar eclipse in parts of Chile and Argentina, the only one in 2020 to be seen from space.

Thousands of people gathered in the Chilean region of La Araucania on Monday to witness the eclipse, despite forecasters predicting heavy rains.

“It was beautiful, unique. The truth is that no one held much hope of seeing it due to the weather and clouds, but it was unique because it cleared up just in time. It was a miracle,” Matias Tordecilla told the AFP news agency from the town of Pucon, on the shores of Lake Villarrica.

The 18-year-old traveled 10 hours with his family to see the eclipse, when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth.

People watch solar eclipse using protective lenses in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 14, 2020.
People keen to watch had to don protective eyewearImage: Mariano Gabriel Sanchez /AA/picture alliance

Skies were clear in northern Patagonia in Argentina, where people also watched the moon briefly block out the sun and plunge daytime into darkness.

Several families and foreigners camped out near the towns of Villa El Chocon and Piedra del Aguila hoping to see the eclipse.

Strong winds had also threatened to affect the visibility of the second total eclipse for Chile in the last 18 months.

It struck at 1 p.m. local time (16:00 GMT) on Monday as thousands of tourists and residents gathered, hoping the clouds would disappear in time.

Chilean officials feared the eclipse would attract large gatherings of people. There have been more than 570,000 coronavirus cases among the 18 million population with almost 16,000 confirmed deaths.

Warnings of heavy rain did not stop tourists coming out to watch the eclipse
Warnings of heavy rain did not stop tourists coming out to watchImage: Matias Basualdo/ZUMA Wire/picture alliance

Widespread travel despite pandemic

Strict controls were announced for the areas where the total eclipse would be visible, with free movement banned both the day before and after.

But almost 300,000 tourists arrived in the Araucania region about 800 kilometers (500 miles) south of the capital, Santiago, to watch the spectacle.

Amateur and professional scientists set up telescopes on the slopes of the Villarrica volcano — one of the most active in Chile — to observe the phenomenon.

The eclipse was due to be visible along a 90-kilometer wide corridor from the Pacific coast in Chile across the Andes mountain range and into Argentina.

In July 2019, some 300,000 people turned out in the Atacama Desert in Chile's north, home to several observatories,to see the previous eclipse.

A tourist uses a welder's mask as protection to view the eclipse in Piedra del Aguila, Argentina
A tourist uses a welder's mask as protection to view the eclipse in Piedra del Aguila, ArgentinaImage: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo/picture alliance

Experts said the eclipse was partly visible in several other Latin American countries, parts of Africa and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

The next total solar eclipse in Chile is expected to occur in 28 years. Another one is expected to be visible in Antarctica by the end of 2021.

jf/msh (AFP, AP)