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On April 30, sky watchers gathered to watch the sun set over the Atacama Desert, Chile, and to witness a much rarer phenomenon.
Before the sun passed below the horizon, the moon intercepted Earth’s view, temporarily blocking a small portion of the solar circle in the first partial solar eclipse of 2022. That phenomenon is shown in a fascinating collage, published by the Observatory Southern European (ESO) on May 9. The image combines a series of photographs from the night of the solar eclipse to produce a record of the path of the moon in front of the descending sun.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon crosses in front of the sun as seen from Earth. Eclipses can be total or partial; While total eclipses involve the moon temporarily blocking out the entire disk of the sun, in the April eclipse the moon only covered a fraction of the sun, making it appear as if a “bite” of the sun had disappeared.
Related: The first solar eclipse of 2022 is impressive in these satellite views
The most drastic view of the April eclipse took place in the southern tip of South America, where the moon blocked 64% of the solar disk, according to NASA.
The 21 shots that make up the newly released collage were captured in a 54-minute window. About halfway through that period, the outline of the moon emerges and begins to obscure the last light of day.
The desert landscape, a region called Valle de la Luna (meaning Valley of the Moon in Spanish), combined with the dimly lit ashy sky, makes for an otherworldly setting. The natural dust effect surrounding the sun is the result of the Hunga Tonga volcano erupting in December 2021 in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The event spewed ash and other material, some of which is trapped high in Earth’s atmosphere.
According to the ESO statement, many of the sky watchers who watched the eerie sunset did not realize what was in store for them.
The eclipse could be seen from Antarctica, the southernmost regions of South America, and from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. However, many who live out of sight watched the event live online from around the world.
The next solar eclipse of 2022 will be the last of the year. Another partial eclipse will take place on October 25, visible from Europe, western Asia, and northeastern Africa.
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