by RAPA NUI (EASTER ISLAND), Chile – Eclipse chasers from around the world gathered on remote Rapa Nui – also known as Isla de Pascua and Easter Island – to witness a fantastic ring of fire, annular solar eclipse for about six minutes. It was the island’s first in 236 years and lasted 321 years.
I was there with eclipse chaser experts Astro pathswho I joined in Santiago, Chile, to take a five-hour flight to the small Chilean island, 1,931 kilometers east of Pitcairn Island and 2,200 miles (3,540 km) from Chile. When I got off the plane, I could see extinct volcanoes and grasslands. Within minutes a necklace of flowers was placed around my neck. It was then a short 10 minute bus ride to the capital Hanga Roa. The entire island is only 163 square kilometers in size.
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It is famous for its approximately 900 moai, gigantic stone monoliths carved between 1150 and 1290 that look solemnly in from the shore. After a few days of photographing the island’s moai in partly cloudy conditions, all 59 guests – and the dozens of other eclipse chasers in Hanga Roa’s low-rise resorts and hostels – knew that eclipse day would be nail-biting.
Would we see the ring or be denied by a passing cloud? To make matters worse, a tropical storm appeared to be approaching the southeast of the island. There was also some uncertainty about where visitors were allowed to view it. Local elections have recently been held and a new Park Board board has only recently been formed to work on regulations and restrictions for October 2nd. Because the 13 archaeological sites in Rapa Nui National Park were unreliable observation sites, Astro Trails hired Parcela Mahinatur. farm to watch the three and a half hour event. It would take place exactly one lunar year later an annular solar eclipse I witnessed in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyonhome to a sungazing culture between 850 and 1250 AD.
We arrived an hour before the eclipse and settled in while photographers assessed how strong the wind was blowing through the location. One cameraman, Stephen Bedingfield of Canada—a veteran of twelve totals and six rings—gathered a few logs from a nearby wood pile and hung them in a bag on his tripod to keep it as still as possible. Rapa Nui has plenty of weather, and despite spring in the Southern Hemisphere it was only 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). It felt colder, the wind froze my fingers as I placed a sunscreen on top of a sunscreen ZWO SeeStar S50 smart telescope to capture images of the partially eclipsed sun.
Within minutes a light rain swept over the farm, but minutes later there were clear skies. Jackets on, jackets off. As the start of the partial phase – 12:23 local time – approached, eclipse glasses were handed out. Tony West of Yorkshire, England, provided the countdown. Within a few seconds I saw the new moon starts to move in front the sun‘s left side. First contact!
The next three hours, 28 minutes and 34 seconds were spent watching the moon’s eclipse sunspots taking photos one by one on the Seestar, hoping that the cloud banks coming from the Pacific Ocean would either shoot up or stay in place. I tried to eat lunch, but after a few bites I returned to observing the sun and operating the SeeStar. I was too excited. It is so rare to be in the path of a central solar eclipse.
I projected “smiley face” silhouettes of the crescent moon with my well-traveled spaghetti spoon, while another eclipse hunter took a Sunspot to project a bright, magnified image of the solar eclipse onto a piece of paper.
When the eclipse reached about two-thirds of the annularity, the temperature dropped sharply and the green fields around it took on a more pronounced color. As we got close to the ‘ring of fire’ the shadows at the edges became blurry and it became very cold. The wind stopped. The cloud that covered the sun and moon cleared away. At 2:03 PM I saw it Bailey‘s beads bustling around the point where the moonThe incoming part of the planet met the edge of the Sun, but only for about 10 seconds before the “ring of fire” appeared. Second contact – what a sight!
Even after observing dozens solar eclipsesThe thought that the sun and moon could align so perfectly still brought me peace and a sense of beauty unmatched by any other sight in nature. But there was one image I wanted more than the “ring of fire”: curls. Using a spaghetti spoon during partial phases it is possible to project crescent-shaped suns, but only in the precious few minutes of annularity is it possible to project ringlets. It is an image I had never made before.
After taking a few photos, I returned to the eclipse, observing the moonwho seemed to remain completely silent for a few minutes. The ring was never perfect—you can only see such a thing from the centerline of an eclipse path—but its slight imperfection made it all the more eerie. Baily’s beads returned when the edge of the moon touched the edge of the sun. Third contact person! There were a few cheers and a few claps. Less than a minute later, a horned sun, just outside the ring, was hidden by a cloud. We had been incredibly lucky – and in more ways than one.
Central solar eclipses on Easter Island are very rare. Remarkably, there was a total on July 11, 2010, just over 14 years ago, but before that it was 1788. The next one is in 2324. After seeing a solar eclipse, the most common question is, “When is the next one?” one?” Not in this group. Everyone here knew that the next total is on August 12, 2026. As for my next date with a ‘ring of fire’, I have February 6, 2027circled my calendar to be in Ghana to watch one just before sunset. It will struggle to be as dramatic or as beautiful as Easter Island’s beautiful ring-shaped ring.
This article was made possible thanks to a trip from Santiago, Chile, supported by a press trip with AstroTrails.
