Easter Island Solar Eclipse

Easter Island is famous for its giant moai statues.

Moai Statue on Easter Island

But on July 11th 2010, the island was in a small corridor on the Earth from which a total solar eclipse was visible. This absolutely fantastic picture was captured by Stephane Guisard

Click the photo for high-res version

With the moai statues in the foreground, this is one the coolest photos I’ve seen in a long, long time.

This photo was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity. As can be seen in the diagram below, the total eclipse is always only visible from a very small region.

Totality is visible in the dark blue region. From: NASA

I love solar eclipses. Too bad the next one where I live won’t be coming around for another 30 years or so.