Solar Eclipse 2012 Partially Witnessed in Melbourne and Other Parts of Australia
Queensland may have witnessed the two-minute total solar eclipse but other parts of Australia like Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne were also able to view a partially covered sun.
Southeast Queensland sky-gazers observed 83% solar eclipse, 67% of the sun was covered in Sydney while the sun appeared half-visible in Melbourne.
The Cosmos Centre in Charleville received numerous reservations where a special solar eclipse breakfast for spectators was prepared. "The sun will come up with a bit of a bite out of it. We will put our solar glasses on to watch and have our telescope with a special filter on so we can see the partial eclipse," Cosmos Centre manager Jane Morgan said.
Amateur astronomer Jonathan Bradshaw from Brisbane was ready to stay up all throughout the night with his equipment and experience the solar eclipse. ''For our set-up to be really good, we need to get it accurately aligned," Bradshaw said. Fellow eclipse chaser Terry Cuttle was hoping that the clouds would give way for his 12th total solar eclipse experience. ''Terry's an eclipse-chasing legend,'' Bradshaw revealed.
Annie Vestergaard, a 13-year-old local student, woke up as early as 5 am with her parents and made their way to a nearby beach to view the solar eclipse. "If cloud obscures the view it will be disappointing, but I'll still get to experience it going dark," Annie shared.
In Adelaide, Professor Paul Curnow estimated that about 30% of the sun would only be covered during the eclipse. "Even though here in Adelaide it's not a total eclipse, you will still be witnessing one of nature's rare events. It will be worthwhile getting up early to see part of the moon moving across the face of the sun," Curnow said.
Meanwhile, the next total solar eclipse visible in Australia will reportedly occur in 2028 where it will cover a much larger area in the southwest of Queensland.