Solar eclipse of April 20, 2023

A total solar eclipse occurred at the Moon’s ascending node of orbit on Thursday, April 20, 2023, with a magnitude of 1.0132. It was a hybrid event, a narrow total eclipse, and beginning and ending as an annular eclipse. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun thereby totally or partly obscuring the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A hybrid solar eclipse is a rare type of solar eclipse that changes its appearance from annular to total and back as the Moon's shadow moves across the Earth's surface. Totality occurs between the annularity paths across the surface of the Earth, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. Hybrid solar eclipses are extremely rare, occurring in only 3.1% of solar eclipses in the 21st century. Occurring about 4.1 days after perigee (on April 16, 2023, at 3:20 UTC), the Moon's apparent diameter was larger.

Totality for this eclipse was visible in the North West Cape peninsula and Barrow Island in Western Australia, eastern parts of East Timor, as well as Damar Island and parts of the province of Papua in Indonesia. A partial eclipse was visible for parts of Antarctica, Australia, Oceania, and Southeast Asia. More than 20,000 people watched the eclipse from the town of Exmouth on Western Australia's North West Cape. Providing infrastructure and services for the visitors (Exmouth's normal population is less than 3,000) cost the State Government of Western Australia A$20 million (US$13.5 million). The date marked a significant moment of astrotourism and tourism in Western Australia.