Article Posted on : - Jul 12, 2010

HOUSTON (PTI): Darkness descended across large swathes of land along a narrow path stretching to Easter Island to southern tip of Chile and Argentina as sky watchers experienced a total solar eclipse on Monday.

A total solar eclipse occurs when the sun is completely obscured by the moon. The intensely bright disc of the sun is replaced by the dark silhouette of the moon.

During the total eclipse, totality is visible only from a narrow track from the surface of the Earth.

Eleven places of the world witnessed the total solar eclipse.

The total solar eclipse was visible from a narrow swath along the Southern hemisphere, mainly over the South Pacific Ocean. The moon umbral (dark) shadow covered Easter Island, well known for its unusual rock faces, before passing over Cook Island.

The eclipse ended just after reaching the southern tip of Chile and Argentina, French Polynesia islands, Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) Director CB Devgan said.

The partial eclipse, created by the moon penumbral (light) shadow was observable from a much larger region, including the South Pacific and the southern tip of South America, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay.

Cook Island was one of the first locations to view the celestial treat.

The maximum eclipse duration was 5 minutes and 20 seconds. The total eclipse began at 23:45 PM and ended at 02:21 AM.

The partial eclipse began at 22:39 PM and ended at 03:27 AM. The greatest eclipse was visible at 01:04 AM.