Some plucky eclipse chasers balooned above the crowds om Cairns to get a look at the solar eclipse.

Viewers gathered at Palm Cove, north of Cairns, for perfect views through telescopes and cameras protected by various high-strength filters and shields.

The light halo visible around the edges of the moon is the sun’s atmosphere, the corona.

The crowd that gathered at Palm Beach were treated to a warm sunny day after a worrying and drizzly start to the week, and had a full view of the solar eclipse aside from a few moments of cloud cover.

Taiwanese eclipse chasers with some sophisticated gear, capture the moment of ‘totality’ (when the sun is completely covered by the moon).

Hundreds gathered to see the rare event at Ellis Beach, about 30 minutes north of Cairns. At totality the sun suddenly seemed to become a third of its size as it’s glare was covered by the moon.

The red rising eclipse from the remote Nhulunbuy, NT, 650km east of Darwin in the Top End.

The solar eclipse from Moranbah, about 150km inland of MacKay in far north Queensland.

Wednesday’s solar eclipse from Mareeba, about an hour and a half inland of Cairns, Qld.

A view of the eclipse from New Caledonia.

A Taiwanese eclipse chaser holds up his picture of the crescent effect the eclipse has on the moon, produced using the projection method. Projection is where you watch the eclipse by projecting the changing light through a hole in a flat object onto another surface, protecting your eyes from retina damage.