2025 PARTIAL SOLAR ECLIPSE EXPEDITION TO NEW ZEALAND RESULTS
BY PAUL D. MALEY
Although eclipses of the Sun come in several classic types, the one that is least attractive to some people are those where only a bite is taken out of the Sun as the Moon passes between it and the Earth. This trip was intentionally not designed with a group in tow largely because of the huge risk of encountering cloudy sky. You can read this article which adequately describes the risks that I first encountered in 1991 at my last eclipse in New Zealand when I was summarily overcast despite the ability to maneuver around North island:
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/06/15/perfect-breeding-ground-why-forecasting-nzs-weather-is-so-difficult/
Only myself and my wife made the long journey on September 18 arriving 2 days later due to time difference and leaving the area via Sydney AU right after the eclipse. In this case over 70% of the Sun was covered on September 22, 2025 as depicted in the map below. To me it was always worth the challenge regardless of the end product.
So, why make a costly, long distance trip when this solar eclipse was not going to be total? After all, isn’t that when the greatest opportunity to study its effects can be achieved? The answer might surprise some readers. In every solar eclipse there is a partial phase, when the Sun is not totally eclipsed. Sunlight is diminished to some extent that is either detectable around the observer or not. Plants and animals can experience the eclipse without even knowing in advance that it is coming. In this case, we observed masses of sea gulls in a nesting area at sunrise, adult sheep on a nearby grazing area, a sleepy sea lion on the beach, and various bushes through which sunlight streamed. The latter can be extremely intriguing. Many are documented online. As an example see:
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1bz75w7/during_a_solar_eclipse_the_gaps_between_leaves_on/
Descriptions like a ‘carpet of dancing crescents’ can predominate. Interlacing ones fingers can produce a similar effect. The science behind this relates to pinhole cameras which focus the Sun’s light in a distinct appearance. ‘Cooperative’ leaves can act as many tiny lenses sending crescent images onto a physical background. Looking at these crescents provide a safe way to observe a partial eclipse as well especially if you are worried about children being injured due to careless visual behavior.
Map showing the boundaries of the partial solar eclipse (PSE) courtesy of X. Jubier. Above the wavy green arc and to its right and left edges no eclipse is seen. The maximum of 79% coverage occurred in the ocean just north of the Antarctic coastline while New Zealand and some islands within this diagram observed less than that amount of solar blockage.
I chose New Zealand as my observation site as it offered the most navigable range by car in case of bad weather. Outside of Antarctica the only other options were tiny islands under the umbrella of the above graphic. About 30 years ago I attempted to observe an annular solar eclipse on North Island and experienced unforgiving cloud. Because of New Zealand being a relative cloud magnet the odds of receiving reliable forecast information for a particular location would be risky except perhaps for the last few hours prior to the eclipse itself. We flew from Phoenix, Arizona to San Francisco to Auckland arriving September 20, then a final flight to Dunedin. I kept a close eye on the local forecast beginning on that day and kept checking it all the way until about 5 hours before sunrise on September 22 when at 6.07am local time the eclipse began with the Sun below the horizon in the direction of the Pacific Ocean to our east. Below is an example from one of several weather sites where cloud cover predictions fluctuated all the time. Predicting cloud cover at any location is tricky under any circumstance there.
25 hours ahead of the eclipse this is just one of many variable weather forecasts showing partly cloudy to clear sky after sunrise on eclipse day. Courtesy Windy.com
Paul tests out camera exposure on an uneclipsed Sun the day before the eclipse. Lynn Palmer photo.
Problems with parking at the Scenic Hotel Southern Cross in Dunedin. The spaces were so small that a number of guests (especially me) had an impossible time fitting our rental car neatly into the warren of tiny spaces on the property. In the above image (not my rent car) I could do no better than this driver did and it is a wonder that my car survived relatively undamaged. Other major issues including driving on the opposite side of the road from how we do it in the US; operating the details of the car including windshield wipers, defroster, gas tank, the electric car features; failure to operate a gas pump to refill the vehicle on return, etc. Lynn Palmer photo.
I had several strategies, including taking a last minute early flight to Christchurch on eclipse morning, but decided to remain in Dunedin and drive east about 30km to a location on the coast at the Royal Albatross Centre. This is a reserve for blue penguins as well as an albatross community on one side of a hill—it was good luck that albatrosses were not sighted; the other side contained some sheep and vast colony of sea birds. Around sunrise these birds presented a real bothersome experience with many flying above, dropping bird poop and making a loud racket while several of us were staffing cameras hoping to capture the eclipse without cloud in the foreground. The rising Sun appeared below to the right (East) and waves were continually crashing against the shoreline.
The day before the eclipse we scouted this area which was of real benefit.
A calm morning at the Royal Albatross Centre September 21, 2025. Photo by Ian Griffin.
Our observation site, map courtesy of Google Maps where East is to the right. Courtesy Ian Griffin.
Just prior to sunrise low in the east Venus appeared briefly. Lynn Palmer photo. All other photos were taken by Paul D. Maley unless otherwise indicated.
The sky becomes orange as all await the appearance of the Sun. Lynn Palmer photo.
As sunrise approached we had considerable linear cloud areas partly blocking the view. About 3 degrees of obscuration with thin cloud above delayed the Sun from getting into clear sky. Local time 6.27am of the image below. Little wind and temperatures in the low 40’s F.
Sunrise and the Sun shows no sign of the eclipse as sea gulls begin to fly. Lynn Palmer photo.
One had to be careful to avoid the effects of dive bombing as the brightening sky caused chaos among the local bird population above. There was no apparently correlation to the rising partly eclipsed Sun (compared to clouded Sun) and the behavior of the sea gulls.
A solitary sea lion at the site seemingly unperturbed by the solar eclipse sleeping through the whole process.
Sea gulls lining up to watch and possibly discuss the eclipse.
Sheep lying on the ground just after the middle of the eclipse process. We had seen these same sheep up and grazing at this time the previous day.
Above, a moment of calm as the sky turned beautiful shades of orange while sea gulls arranged themselves along the railings and land on all sides of the narrow walking path.
Only 3 of us were at the site initially, but a few more onlookers showed up in the next hour. It seemed as if we were at the edge of the Earth with a deeply personal experience unlike that of any other. I borrowed a tripod from my colleague Ian but it proved too difficult to use; so I abandoned it soon after and reverted to hand holding my Nikon. Luckily I was able to consistently use the ND5 filter for eclipse photos the entire time.
As the Sun continued to rise, clouds thinned and our view became better.
As the Sun tried to emerge from the cloud deck it formed a “shark fin” appearance.
Linear cloud briefly blocked the Sun as it ascended.
In the first 30 minutes I had my Nikon camera mounted on a tripod. As time passed it was easier to hand hold the camera as shown here. Lynn Palmer photo.
As I maneuvered around the walkway initially we were unsure of the azimuth of sunrise due to magnetic variation in our phone compasses. Fortunately we were able to maneuver around the poop-covered walking decks and hoped our photos would not be blocked by birds as in the image below. This was my 87th solar eclipse. Lynn Palmer photo.
Sea gull ritual mating activity in progress during the eclipse. It is unclear if the eclipse had anything to do with this.
The eclipse at 6.41am (14 minutes after sunrise) just clearing the cloud deck. Notice the change in color as the solar image appeared bright white (overexposed) when it was smaller with the lens covered by an ND5 filter.
The Sun at 6.57am. The Sun’s image was zoomed in more resulting in a more yellowish shade.
A brief colorful impact of passing cloud.
The eclipse at maximum 7.17am (71% of Sun covered). Lynn Palmer photo with the camera propped up on a railing.
Last image of the eclipse taken at 7.30am. As the zoom increased the image color settled as orange. It was clear from here on and the only reason we ended photography was not wanting to take a chance on being late for our flight from Dunedin to Christchurch. Lynn Palmer photo.
A view of the sky 2 hours after the end of the eclipse is below.
The article above preceded the eclipse day in the local Dunedin newspaper. The important takeaway language is a bit odd but it says:
Education regarding any form of solar eclipse is necessary in order to prevent misinformation from spreading especially in areas that have a lot of rural inhabitants and minimal science instruction/experience. After all, solar eclipses are not that common.
OTHER IMAGES
Often overlooked during the partial phases of all eclipses are Sun crescents created by the eclipse process. This can be a somewhat magical experience for those who have never seen this before. We did not know the identities of these plants until after the eclipse but their ‘behavior’ was clear. Here are two examples of sunlight passing through ‘cooperative’ leaves of local bushes. I define a ‘cooperative’ plant as one whose leaf spacing offers the chance for sunlight to create this fascinating result of Sun projection. An ‘uncooperative’ plant is not one that has a preferred behavior but simply a physical leaf structure that will not allow favorable sunlight passage to generate such patterns. As far as I observed no one but me actually took the time to walk up the hill and check the opposing Sun facing side of different bushes to see if there were Sun crescents visible. Their locations were far from the cliffs where all observers were fixated on the eclipse activity and at no time did I see anyone up there since the facility was closed until well after the eclipse ended.
Note the crescents and the Poor Man’s Rhododendron on the right that created them. When the wind is not blowing you could describe this as a ‘carpet of motionless crescents’ but when it is, it becomes a carpet of dancing crescents.
The New Zealand Hebe bush created these crescents.
And the New Zealand boxwood produced a lot of closely spaced crescents.
Above left is the bush called the New Zealand Karo. On the right is a sign advertising the blue penguins that inhabit the area but on it are many projected solar crescents generated by sunlight passing through the Karo bush. The crescents appear stable due to lack of wind behind or in front of this structure.
My colleague Dr. Ian Griffin, director of the Tuhura Otago Museum in Dunedin, had his scope and camera set up on the wood walkway and was able to get some great shots.
Lynn Palmer shooting the eclipse. This was her 48th solar eclipse.
Penguin crossing sign on the way to the eclipse site
A ‘meal service ‘ on an Air New Zealand internal flight consisted of this.
Paul leaves an airline lounge
After the eclipse (same day) we flew out of Dunedin to Christchurch and then to Sydney, Australia where we were able to relax at the Singapore Airlines lounge which helped make the trip bearable.
Solar eclipse type lighting in the lounge
This graphic on our Sydney to San Francisco flight seat consoles gave us a brief start when the tiny print above stated “Landing in 24 hours”. Luckily it was not correct.
In summary, this was a highly successful expedition in spite of the brutal travel times involved (14+ hours from Sydney to San Francisco). Our next partial eclipse will be on Feb. 17, 2026.