Solar eclipse in Australia: Where to see the partial solar eclipse (including livestreams)

Stargazers in Australia will be in for a treat tomorrow with a partial solar eclipse visible across the continent.

For those readers in the UK or US who don’t feel particularly motivated to make the trip over, the eclipse will also be live-cast from two different locations by Nasa (beginning at 6am GMT).

On the afternoon of 29 April Australians will be treated to the astronomical phenomenon as the Moon moves between the Sun and the Earth, occluding roughly 65 per cent of the star’s light. People in Brisbane and Sydney will get the best view of this partial eclipse.

There’ll also be annular eclipse going on at the same time (this is when the Moon only obscures part of the Sun leaving a ‘ring of fire’ in the sky) although that will only be visible from remote parts of Antarctica unfortunately.

Appropriate eyewear: necessary even for cool guys.

Annular eclipses occur when the Moon is relatively far from the Earth in its elliptical orbit – if the Moon were closer in its orbit the eclipse would be total.

For those in Australia the eclipse will begin at 1:15pm in Perth local time, the capital of Western Australia, and extend to 3:59pm with an optimum viewing time of 2:41pm. The eclipse will begin in Melbourne at 3:58pm and in Sydney at 4:13pm.

The usual eclipse warnings apply: don’t look at the Sun without some sort of eye protection and if you want to view the eclipse directly you’ll need a pair of special eclipse glasses (sunglasses are not suitable – no.14 Welder’s glasses are).