Eclipse-chasers from all over the world will be traveling to Western Australia, Timor Leste, and ... [+]
When is the next solar eclipse? On Thursday, April 20, 2023 there will be a rare opportunity to witness a total solar eclipse as the Moon entirely blocks the Sun for less than 76 seconds as seen from the southern hemisphere.
Eclipse-chasers from all over the world will be traveling to Western Australia, Timor Leste and West Papua, both on land and on cruise ships and yachts, to observe a unique “hybrid” or annular-total solar eclipse.
Here’s everything you need to know about one of the strangest and rarest celestial events taking place in some incredibly remote locations you’ve likely never even heard of before.
The path of totality on April 20, 2023. Map by eclipse cartographer Michael ... [+]
1. It’s only visible from the southern hemisphere
The path of totality—the central shadow of the Moon—doesn’t care where it falls on Earth. This time the 8,000 miles-long path—which is just 25 miles wide—occurs mostly at sea.
It will begin as an eclipsed or beaded sunrise near the Kerguelen Islands in the Indian Ocean, grazing the coast of Western Australia and then moving across Timor Leste and West Papua, and becoming a “ring of fire” for a few seconds before setting close to the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean as a beaded sunset.
Tropical exotic coastline beach of dili in east timor
2. One of the poorest and most beautiful countries is in prime position
Although it’s got a slightly higher chance of cloud than Exmouth in Western Australia, as many as 50,000 intrepid eclipse-chasers will travel to one of the world’s poorest countries, Timor Leste, to experience the longest totality—at 76 seconds.
A slice of tropical heaven, Timor boasts a Portuguese colonial influence, great seafood and coral reefs just off its beaches. The places to be in Timor will be Beaco on the southeast coast or Com on the east coast.
3. It’s technically a ‘hybrid’ solar eclipse
There’s a lot of rubbish being talked about this eclipse, largely around the fact that it’s a rare hybrid type that swaps from being an annular or “ring of fire” eclipse (which requires solar eclipse glasses to see) to a total solar eclipse (which can be viewed with the unaided eye) then back again at a couple of points in the 8,000 miles-long path.
However, that’s simply not relevant to anyone actually planning to view this eclipse. “It’s just a description of the eclipse path as it changes from total to annular or annular to total—what you see is either a total, an annular or a kind of broken annular,” said Fred Espenak, retired NASA astrophysicist, author, photographer and eclipse expert. “It’s due primarily to the curvature of the Earth bringing that part of the path closer to the Sun.” So, yes, hybrid eclipses are weird and rare—occurring only seven times in the 21st century—but what everyone will see on April 20, 2023 will be a “normal” total solar eclipse.
Montebello Islands—where nuclear testing was once done—is now a wildlife sanctuary off the coast of ... [+]
4. Some very remote islands will get totality
Totality will visit some incredibly remote reefs and islands in the Indian Ocean. They include the Montebello Islands Marine Park—previously the site of atomic bomb testing in the 1950s—the nearby Lowendal Islands Nature Reserve and the truly isolated Scott and Seringapatam Reefs 190 miles off Western Australia’s Kimberley Coast.
However, perhaps the most interesting place to be will be Ashmore Reef about 200 miles off the coast where 50,000 breeding pairs of seabirds and herons—as well as turtles, whale sharks and dugong—will experience a short totality.
5. This will be an exclusive eclipse experience
Totality will be witnessed by relatively few people. In fact, just 50,000 are expected to make a trip to Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia to witness totality (where the permanent population is around 5,000).
The only other populated places that totality will visit are Timor-Leste and West Papua, giving a combined population of 375,000 people in the path of totality, according to Timeanddate.com. That’s a mere 0.004% of humans.
It just doesn’t compare to what is going to happen on April 8, 2024 when over 31 million North Americans will experience totality.
6. Southeast Asia will see a big partial solar eclipse
While the brief totality will be very difficult to experience on April 20, 2023, a whopping 693 million people across Southeast Asia and Australia will get to see at least a 50% partial eclipse of the Sun.
A partial solar eclipse is a very poor second prize compared to totality—something it’s only possible to experience along the very narrow path of a total solar eclipse—but it’s still worth making the effort to look at with solar eclipse glasses.
Whale Sharks watched by tourists off the coast in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia.
7. It happens in ‘whale shark’ season
The world’s biggest fish is about to experience a total solar eclipse. Two of the places visited by the eclipsed Sun—the Ningaloo Coast of Western Australia and Cenderawasih Bay in West Papua—are both meeting places for whale sharks.
They hang around Exmouth close to the Ningaloo Reef between March and August, and all year round in West Papua. Swimming with these beasts is the thing to do in both destinations, perhaps even more so on April 20, 2023 when anyone entering the water during totality will also be followed by a moonshadow.
More proof, if it was ever needed, that eclipse-chasing is a great way to see the world.
Disclaimer: I am the editor of WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com and author of The Complete Guide To The Great North American Eclipse of April 8, 2024.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.
