US National Weather Service recently took Twitter and shared amazing time-lapse footage of Tuesday’s solar eclipse. The footage showing Moon’s shadow crossing the Earth at the same time as a giant hurricane swirls in the opposite direction.
Using National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration geostationary satellite cameras, the agency tracks the weather. The cameras on the satellite recently captured great total solar eclipse as it passed over the Pacific Ocean on July 2, headed for Chile and Argentina.
At the same time, the satellite also captured the Hurricane Barbara was pushing across the Pacific as a powerful Category 4 storm. The category 4 hurricane had maximum sustained winds of 155 mph (250 kph) early Wednesday, according to the US National Hurricane Center.
Not too often you catch a Category 4 hurricane and a solar eclipse occurring in the same satellite loop. pic.twitter.com/eFze8Z3avp
— NWS Kansas City (@NWSKansasCity) July 2, 2019
That shadow reached the Chilean coast around 4:40 p.m. EDT (2040 GMT) on July 2 and kept right on going, heading east across South America’s narrow southern wedge toward the Atlantic.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the Sun, obscuring the Sun from view.
However, this was the first total solar eclipse since the August 2017 “Great American Solar Eclipse,” which crossed the U.S. from coast to coast. The next such event won’t occur until December 2020, when southern South America again will play host.