Total eclipse — South America (2020)
The total eclipse of 14 December 2020 crossed Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia in a year when the pandemic had shut down travel.
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The story
On 14 December 2020 the shadow of a total solar eclipse swept across southern Chile and the Patagonia region of Argentina. It was a year when travel between countries had almost stopped because of COVID-19. So instead of eclipse travellers from around the world, the eclipse was mostly seen by the people who lived there. The strip where the Sun was fully covered was about 90 km wide, and totality lasted up to 2 minutes 10 seconds.
The weather was very different from place to place. Chile’s Araucanía region, west of the Andes, is humid, and on the day many spots there were covered by cloud and fog. Even so, some people caught the darkened Sun through gaps in the clouds. East of the mountains, the Argentine side is dry grassland, and the weather there was generally better, so many people in Neuquén and Río Negro provinces saw the corona.
The eclipse came soon after the Sun’s quietest point, in December 2019. The Sun’s activity rises and falls in a cycle of about eleven years. At this stage it was still fairly calm, so the corona spread out in a few gentle streamers rather than flaring in every direction. The corona is the Sun’s outer atmosphere, which can be seen with the naked eye only during totality.
Chile’s Araucanía region is also the long-time homeland of the Mapuche, an Indigenous people of South America, and the eclipse passed through the sky above their land. Choosing this eclipse in the sky view replays the scene high in a southern midsummer midday sky, with the Sun turned black and the corona showing around it.
Viewing guide — where, when, how
Choose the 2020 eclipse in the sky view’s event list to replay totality over Pucón, Chile, at about 1 pm local time. It was midsummer in the southern hemisphere, so the Sun stood high in the sky. About 30 degrees east of the Sun, Jupiter and Saturn sat very close together, because a week later, on 21 December, the two planets would reach their closest approach. Move the location to Neuquén, Argentina, for the timing on that side.
The next total eclipse over mainland South America is on 12 August 2045, crossing places such as Venezuela and north-eastern Brazil. The next to cross Chile and Argentina again is on 5 December 2048. Those days are too far away to know the weather; only the chance of clear skies can be estimated from climate records. The orbit view’s event replay shows the Moon’s shadow of 2020 brushing across the south of the continent.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Why this eclipse is special
Setting the total eclipses of 2017, 2020 and 2024 side by side shows how the Sun’s eleven-year cycle appears in the shape of the corona. In 2017 the Sun’s activity was declining, in 2020 it had just passed its quietest point, and in 2024 it was near its most active. The more active the Sun, the more widely the corona spreads in every direction.
South America had two total eclipses only seventeen months apart: on 2 July 2019, over northern Chile and Argentina, and on 14 December 2020. It is unusual for one region to see two total eclipses so close together. The 2020 eclipse is also remembered for the live internet broadcasts that several organisations ran for people who could not travel.
Background and earlier eclipses
This eclipse was the 23rd of 72 members of an eclipse family called Saros 142. A saros is a cycle of about eighteen years after which a similar eclipse comes around again. The previous member crossed South Africa and Australia on 4 December 2002, and the next will cross Australia and New Zealand on 26 December 2038.
The shadow began over the Pacific, crossed Chile’s Araucanía and Los Ríos regions, passed over the Andes and swept across Argentina’s Neuquén and Río Negro provinces before leaving over the Atlantic. Because the mountains divide a humid west from a dry east, viewing results on the two sides of a single mountain range were very different.
In 2020 there was also an annular eclipse over Africa and Asia on 21 June. One eclipse of the year was annular and the other total because of the changing distance between the Moon and Earth. In June the Moon was far from Earth and looked slightly smaller, so a ring of the Sun’s edge was left showing. In December the Moon was closer and looked larger, so it could cover the Sun completely.
FAQ
How long did totality last?
Up to 2 minutes 10 seconds, and about 2 minutes near Pucón, Chile.
What was the weather like?
Cloud and fog made viewing hard in many places on the Chilean side, though some saw it through gaps; the Argentine side generally had better weather.
What did the corona look like?
Coming just after the Sun’s quietest point, it spread in a few calm streamers rather than flaring in every direction.
When is South America’s next total eclipse?
Mainland South America next sees one on 12 August 2045, and Chile and Argentina on 5 December 2048.
Related
- The Great Conjunction of 2020
- The Great American Eclipse (2017)
- Total eclipse — Australia & NZ (2037)
- The Sun — object index
- The Moon — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.