Bermuda will be the last land stop of a solar eclipse today that began near New Zealand and ends in the ocean just east of the Island.

And if you miss it you will have to wait another 12 years to the next one.

Islanders will only see a partial eclipse covering about one quarter of the sun's southern side.

The invisible moon will approach the sun from the south west and make its presence known when it touches the sun's southern rim at 6.43 p.m.

At this point the sun will be low in the west, about 11 degrees above the horizon.

The moon's shadow will appear to roll around a portion of the sun during the next hour in an arc-shaped bite that will still be visible as the sun sets at 7.40 p.m.

Astronomer Eddie McGonagle said: "The importance of this eclipse is simply that no other partial eclipse will be seen in Bermuda until 2017.

"No total eclipse will be observed here until February 16, 2352 ? the previous one was seen only by cahows in 1532.

"The reason that total eclipses are so rare is they traverse a very narrow corridor across the earth's surface about 100 miles wide and there is only an average of 2.2 solar eclipses per year."

Mr. McGonagle said Bermuda was more fortunate with lunar eclipses ? they have the same average but are seen across half the globe at the same time unlike the next two on April 24 and October 17. He advised the public not look at the sun directly.

Telescopes and binoculars should use the projection method of allowing the sun's light to pass through the front lens to a white card held behind each eyepiece.

A white card with a pencil-punched hole can project the sun's image on to a similar card held behind and be moved back and forward for sharpest detail.