Thousands gather to enjoy spectacle of rare hybrid solar eclipse

The sun and moon are photographed near Exmouth, Australia, during a solar eclipse (Aaron Bunch/AAP Image via AP)

Under a cloudless sky, about 20,000 eclipse chasers watched a rare solar eclipse plunge part of Australia’s northwest coast into brief midday darkness on Thursday with an accompanying temperature drop.

The remote tourist town of Exmouth, with fewer than 3,000 residents, was promoted as one of the best vantage points in Australia to see the eclipse that also crossed remote parts of Indonesia and East Timor.