A partial solar eclipse will occur on April 30, 2022, in parts of South America, Antarctica, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. This is the first eclipse to occur in 2022.
This solar eclipse began at 2:45 p.m. EDT (1845 GMT), when it was first seen by skywatchers in the far southeastern Pacific near the Antarctic coast. The maximum eclipse will occur hours later, at 16:41 EDT (2041 GMT), before ending at 18:37 EDT (2237 GMT), according to Timeanddate.com.
People in the region can watch the partial solar eclipse on April 30 from 3:30 p.m. EDT (1930 GMT) or via the Timeanddate.com website, where they also live-blogging the event.
The eclipse is the first of two partial eclipses to occur in 2022. The next eclipse will occur on October 25, when the Moon will partially obscure the Sun in Europe, West Asia and northeastern Africa.
A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. The celestial event on April 30 is a partial eclipse, meaning that the Moon only partially obscures the Sun for some areas of the Earth, so that the Sun is in the shape of a crescent moon.
However, the portion of the Sun that is obscured by the Moon varies depending on the viewing location. During the April 30 partial solar eclipse, a maximum of 64% of the Sun's disk will be obscured by the Moon for observers in South America.
Unfortunately, this partial solar eclipse will only be visible from sparsely populated areas in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, Antarctica and some South American countries, such as Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Peru.