Friday the 13th solar eclipse only visible to rare few

Credit: Clive Mason

Credit: Clive Mason

While superstitious people may avoid venturing outside this Friday the 13th, others have been searching for glimpses of a rare partial solar eclipse.

It is the first time in 44 years that an eclipse has fallen on the Friday the 13th date, according to NASA.

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Truthfully, not many people will likely see the Friday 13 eclipse, because the moon’s shadow fell over open waters between Australia and Antarctica, where the Indian and Pacific oceans merge.

Those who may have the opportunity to see it this time around are in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand at about 2 p.m. local time, according to the UK's Nautical Almanac Office.

This moon is a so-called dark supermoon -- a new moon that arrives when the lunar orb is especially close to Earth, National Geographic reports.

A solar eclipse occurs when the Earth, moon and sun are aligned so that Earth glides through at least part of the moon’s shadow.

The next partial solar eclipse is expected to happen on Aug. 11 and will be visible from northern and eastern Europe, northern parts of North America and parts of Asia.

For the superstitious, don’t worry -- the next solar eclipse to fall on a Friday the 13th is expected in the year 2080.

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