Skies have cleared overnight over a chunk of the nation and it should give a reasonably good view of the partial solar eclipse

Eastern areas of the North Island and western parts on the Mainland could be struggling to have a clear view but other parts of the country are looking brighter and appear to have more of an opportunity.

Cloud build ups could be frustrating for some gazers but hopefully between 9.30 this morning until midday there’ll be a chance to get a decent look.

For eclipse fans here is a break down on what we can expect today across New Zealand and the southern hemisphere…

This eclipse with a path mainly over ocean is over the south Pacific. The path of totality does start over extreme northern Australia about 200 km east of Darwin. The path crosses the Gulf of Carpentaria and then the base of the Cape York Peninsula with Cairns and Port Douglas seeing a total eclipse.

At Cairns the eclipse will occur in the early morning, totality lasting for 2 minutes. The Sun will be 14° above the horizon, so low to the east.

From Cairns the total path moves, at first, to the east-southeast across the Pacific, passing a little to the north of New Zealand. After reaching the latitude of the South Island the path starts to swing back to the north, with the eclipse ending at sunset some way to the west of Coquimbo in Chile.

A partial eclipse will be visible from all parts of Australia (anywhere it is not total), although the sun rises after the start of the partial eclipse for the western half of the country. A partial eclipse is also visible from New Zealand, many of the south Pacific islands and, at sun set in most of Chile and the southern parts of Argentina.

WeatherWatch.co.nz & rasnz