Under a cloudless sky, about 20,000 eclipse chasers watched a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia's northwest coast into brief midday darkness Thursday with an accompanying temperature drop.
The remote tourist town of Exmouth, with fewer than 3,000 residents, was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.
An international crowd had been gathering for days, camping in tents and trailers on a red, dusty plain on the edge of town with cameras and other viewing equipment pointed skyward.
NASA astronomer Henry Throop was among those at Exmouth cheering loudly in the darkness.
“Isn’t it incredible? This is so fantastic. It was mind-blowing. It was so sharp and it was so bright. You could see the corona around the sun there,” the visibly excited Washington resident said.
MORE: www.wtsp.com/article/news/nation-world/solar-eclipse-australia-indonesia/507-af2cfe5b-23bc-4abc-9c70-badfc7389564
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20 апр 2023
