Thousands of eclipse chasers from across the globe are set to witness a rare total solar eclipse as the sun vanishes from the sky in the remote Ningaloo region.

April 20, 2023

Excitement is building on Western Australia’s North West Cape as thousands ready to witness a rare total solar eclipse that will turn day into night.

About 20,000 eclipse chasers from around the world are expected to witness the celestial phenomenon on Thursday, when the moon casts a 40km wide shadow over the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo reef region.

German Beate Steudtner has travelled to Exmouth for the eclipse that will last about three hours as the moon passes between the sun and earth as a partial then total eclipse.

“The last one I saw was in Oregon. I was surprised to see how people reacted, some shouted out during totality, some wept … and they were really calm afterwards,” she said.

Darkness, or totality, is set to last about 62 seconds from 11.29am AWST (1.29pm AEST) when the moon completely blocks the sun.

Japanese eclipse chaser Kaori Zaitsu travelled to WA with eight friends to see their first total eclipse.

“We’ve been planning for a year, we’re all excited,” she said.

When darkness falls, a bright solar corona that looks like a white halo may become visible, along with some stars and planets.

The air temperature is likely to drop and animals may change their behaviour, with eclipse chasers urged to protect their eyesight and not look directly at the sun.

Wildlife biologist Bill Bateman said animals often react to the dimming of the sun as if it were an unexpected sunset and the end of the day.

“Birds may stop singing and move to roosting sites, lizards may move to night-time cover,” he said.

The eclipse will provide astronomers a rare opportunity to test telescopes and instruments used for studying the sun’s million-degree atmosphere.

Astrophysicist Melanie Johnston-Hollitt said the eclipse would help people understand the structure of the solar system.

“We are on a rock, the earth, being orbited by another rock, the moon, both of which are orbiting a star, the sun, in the vastness of space,” she said.

Veteran astrophotographer and eclipse chaser Terry Cuttle said it would be an absolutely amazing spectacle and experience.

“Two or three minutes before the total eclipse you see the shadow of the moon coming,” he said.

“It can look like a really ominous threatening thunderstorm but it’s completely silent … It’s awesome … Then, within a couple of minutes, the sun disappears.”

Mr Cuttle said the sun’s outer atmosphere will likely become visible as it streamed out from the sun in the shape of the sun’s magnetic field.

“It’s just so black surrounded by the corona and then stars and planets come out … You get to see the entire solar system,” he said.

The eclipse is rare because it’s a hybrid eclipse that starts as an annular eclipse in the Indian Ocean before changing into a total eclipse near Exmouth.

The town, which normally has a population of about 2800, has swollen as thousands of visitors keen to witness the eclipse arrived by air and road.

Campsites have sprung up in front yards and on vacant land and the streets are bumper to bumper with 4WDs and camper vans.

A festival atmosphere has taken hold, with concerts and events at towns and cattle stations across the region.

The phenomena will be seen at various time through the day as a partial solar eclipse, with 77 per cent of the sun covered by the moon in Perth, 19 per cent in Sydney, 21 per cent in Melbourne and 27 per cent in Brisbane.