The spectacle was total in Argentina, in the region of Bariloche (south) where thousands of people were gathered wearing protective glasses against the solar rays.

The south of Chile and Argentina were indeed plunged into darkness for more than two minutes, Monday, December 14, in the early afternoon, when the solar disk was completely covered by the moon.

On the other hand, the spectacle was partly spoiled in Chile, 800 km south of the capital Santiago, by a continuous rain, and large black clouds preventing to clearly see the part of hide and seek between the Sun and the Moon. .

🌙 Southern Argentina plunges into darkness, as the Moon slowly covers the Sun over the province of Neuquen in Argentina, at the onset of a total solar eclipse observable across southern Argentina and Chile @MCervantex pic.twitter.com/ATpGW2zEZG

- Agence France-Presse (@afpfr) December 14, 2020

In the tourist town of Pucon, at the foot of Lake Villarrica, the showers continued to increase in intensity during the morning, leaving little hope of glimpsing the Earth-Moon-Sun alignment, expected at 13 h (local time), for precisely two minutes and nine seconds.

But at the time of the eclipse, the clouds lost in thickness above the beach of the lake where thousands of people were gathered covered in protective clothing against the rain.

Dozens of amateur or professional scientists had arrived for several days to install their telescopes on the sides of the Villarrica volcano, one of the most active in Chile, in the middle of the rich vegetation in the south of the country.

However, they were not rewarded as in July 2019, during the total eclipse in a pure sky in northern Chile, in the middle of the Atacama desert where several astronomical observatories are located.

Many spectators in front of this total spectacle

In Carahue, closer to the Pacific coast, the eclipse was experienced in prayer by members of the indigenous Mapuche community, the largest in Chile, who see in this phenomenon the end of an era and the beginning of a new process. 

In the region of the capital Santiago, where 7 of the 15 million inhabitants live with travel restrictions due to the increase in Covid-19 cases, the dim light has been fleeting and the temperature has dropped slightly.

The trajectory of the lunar shadow, this narrow strip of 90 km where the darkness was total, started in the Pacific Ocean, reached the Chilean lands before crossing the Andes Cordillera, then traversed the south of the Argentina from west to east before continuing into the South Atlantic Ocean.

QUE LIND☀


El mundo aprecio el eclipse de sol en su mĂĄximo esplendor.

#Mira pic.twitter.com/1rbnJDFh5y

- Marcos (@MarcosFerCorrea) December 14, 2020

Near the tourist town of Bariloche, in Patagonia, several families anxiously awaited the arrival of the eclipse.

A group of American tourists hoped not to have carried out complex administrative procedures and numerous tests for the detection of Covid-19 for nothing before receiving the authorizations to reach the city.

But the sky remained pristine with clouds as the moon began to nibble at the sun, plunging the lucky ones into beaming smiles behind their goggles, until the climax where the sun disappeared.

There are two total solar eclipses each year, but depending on the time of year and the time of day they are more or less visible to the population.

With AFP

The summary of the week

France 24 invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 application

google-play-badge_FR