You should not look directly at the sun or through a camera or telescope as it may cause blindness, but if you have equipment that allows you to safely photograph the eclipse
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Advice from NASA on viewing and photographing an eclipse
New Zealanders will be among a privileged few to witness the best of a partial solar eclipse on Thursday.
Short of flying to Antarctica where the annular eclipse - when the moon almost, but not completely, covers the sun - can be seen, New Zealand is the best
vantage point for witnessing a partial look at the phenomenon.
As only a handful of people and millions of penguins in Antarctica will see the ring of sunlight around the moon's dark silhouette, the phenomenon has been nicknamed the Hermit's eclipse.
"It's a remarkably narrow strip of the Earth that gets totality for any eclipse," said Stardome Observatory education manager Graham Murray.
"With this one, the strip runs across the Antarctic peninsula towards Scott Base - that's hermit landscape. It is just out of reach.
The orbit of the moon is not a circle - it is a stretched circle, or ellipse. As such, the moon sometimes appears larger or smaller in the night sky, depending on its orbit.
An annular, or ring-shaped, eclipse occurs when the moon is at its smaller size - one that is not quite large enough to completely cover the sun's face. This differs from a total solar eclipse, which occurs when the sun's light is completely blocked by the moon.
In Auckland, the partial eclipse starts at 4.48pm when the sun is half way up the sky in the west and finishes about two hours later at 6.51pm.
At the time of maximum eclipse at 5.52pm, 58 per cent of the sun will be covered as seen from Auckland.
Christchurch is the main centre that sees most of the eclipse. At 5.37pm there, almost 63 per cent of the sun's face will be covered by the moon.
Mr Murray said the eclipse would be observable from virtually anywhere in New Zealand, but it would be unwise to look at it with the naked eye.
A pinhole camera is recommended.
"If you get a large piece of card, put a pinhole in it, hold it above your head with the sun shining on your back, and look for that dot of light that passes through your card falling on the ground, you can see the eclipse through that."
Sunglasses won't protect the eyes, although an electric welding mask is adequate.
"The thing is that you tend to want to look more than just for a glimpse, you tend to need to stare just to get any sort of adjustment to your eyes. That's just too much exposure."
The last good partial solar eclipse was August 22, 1998, and the next will not be until November 14, 2012.
* DARK SIDE OF SUN
In Auckland, the partial eclipse starts at 4.48pm, when the sun is half way up the sky in the west, and finishes at 6.51pm.
Maximum eclipse is at 5.52pm when 57.5 per cent of the sun will be covered as seen from Auckland.
Maximum eclipse will occur in Christchurch at 5.37pm when 62.8 per cent of the sun will be covered by the moon.
Looking at the sun directly or through a camera, binoculars or telescope can cause permanent damage, including the possibility of blindness. Sunglasses are not enough to protect the eyes, although an electric welding mask is adequate.
One safe method of watching an eclipse is to project the sun's image on to a screen, either through a telescope or a pin-hole camera, to watch it in real-time like a movie.
