As seen from the Earth, a solar eclipse occurs when the Moon
passes between the Sun and the Earth, and the Moon fully or
partially covers the Sun as viewed from some location on Earth.
This can only happen during a new moon, when the Sun and Moon
are in conjunction as seen from Earth. At least two, and up to
five, solar eclipses occur each year; no more than two can be
total eclipses. Total solar eclipses are nevertheless rare at
any particular location because totality exists only along a
narrow path traced by the Moon’s umbra.Many people will travel
to remote locations to observe a central solar eclipse . The
solar eclipse of August 11, 1999, in Europe helped to increase
public awareness of the phenomenon, which apparently led an
unusually large number of journeys made specifically to witness
the total solar eclipse of October 3, 2005, and of March 29,
2006.The last total eclipse was the solar eclipse of July 22,
2009.The recent solar eclipse of January 15, 2010, was an
annular eclipse the next annular ecli