Last December 14, viewers across a large part of North America were able to see the New Moon crossing in front of the Sun, causing a partial solar eclipse. If the weather in your area was unsettled or overcast and prevented your getting a view of the eclipse, you'll get another chance on Monday, June 10, when once again most parts of North America will have an opportunity to watch the Moon partially eclipse the Sun.

Along a very narrow track that averages only about 26 miles in width, the Moon will appear to cross directly in front of the Sun.

Most observers will simply see a partial eclipse, in which it appears a bite has been taken out of the Sun.

One unusual circumstance of this eclipse is that because the Moon's shadow falls upon the Earth's surface to the west of the International Date Line, the eclipse will begin on Tuesday, June 11th. Then, as the shadow progresses rapidly toward the east, it will cross the Date Line, causing the calendar date of the eclipse to fall back a day to Monday, June 10th.

At its beginning, the track of the annular eclipse will touch down in Indonesia along the north coast of Sulawesi and then race across the Celebes Sea. The eclipse track will then engulf the Indonesian islands of Pulau Sangihe and Kepulauan Talaud and later Saipan and Tinian of the Northern Mariana Islands chain.

The island of Guam will lie about 25 miles south of the eclipse track and will see nearly 98 percent of the Sun's diameter obscured by the passing New Moon.

Thereafter, virtually the all of the remainder of the annular eclipse track falls over open ocean waters. The track sweeps as close as 1,600 miles to the northwest of Hawaii, but its final landfall doesn't come until practically its endpoint. It will pass about 30 miles south of the southern tip of Baja, Mexico, before finally reaching Mexico's Pacific Coast, less than 20 miles south of Puerto Vallarta.

Although it will be difficult to make scientifically useful observations, if weather conditions are favorable, properly positioned observers may obtain striking views and photographs of the setting Sun transformed for just over a minute into a striking "ring of fire" above the Pacific Ocean horizon. Cabo Corrientes and El Tuito are inside the track; Llano Grande is very close to its northern edge.

Several seconds later the 9,100-mile long eclipse track finally comes to an end.

Much of North America will see this as a partial solar eclipse. And there will also be locations that will see nothing. If you have an atlas of Canada and the United States, draw a line starting from a point roughly between the cities of Montreal and Quebec and extend it south, to a point just west of Washington, D.C. Continue the line south to Perry, Florida and on into the Gulf of Mexico.

All places to the right (or east) of this line will have no view of any part of the eclipse.

Meanwhile, those localities to the left (or west) of the line will be able to see at least a part of this eclipse near sunset, although the Moon's "bite" out of the lower edge of the Sun will be small. For example, at Columbia, South Carolina, the eclipse will begin at 8:29 p.m. EDT. The eclipse will still be in progress eight minutes later when the Sun sets with only eleven percent of its diameter obscured.

At Pittsburgh, the Moon will manage to cover 22 percent of the Sun's diameter by the time local sunset occurs at 8:54 p.m. EDT. The eclipse will have gotten underway 24 minutes earlier as seen from the Steel City.

As one heads farther west, more and more of the eclipse will be visible before sunset intervenes. Generally speaking, those who live in the Mountain and Pacific Time zones will get an uninterrupted view.

The farther to the west and south one is, the larger the magnitude of the eclipse will be.

Across the Pacific Northwest and the Great Plains, anywhere from 30 to 60 percent of the Sun's diameter will be obscured. California and the Desert Southwest will be the most favorably situated with anywhere from 60 to 80 percent coverage of the Sun's diameter by the Moon.

Fine examples include San Francisco (72% at 6:16 p.m. PDT); Phoenix (73% at 6:24 p.m. MST); Los Angeles (77% at 6:22 p.m. PDT) and San Diego (80% at 6:24 p.m. PDT). At all of these locations, enough of the Sun will be obscured at maximum eclipse to possibly cause a subtle diminution in the overall illumination of the sky.

In his autobiography "Starlight Nights," Leslie C. Peltier (1900-1980) wrote of his observation of a partial solar eclipse in June 1918. From his Delphos, Ohio home, the eclipse reached 75 percent coverage. When the eclipse reached its peak, Peltier wrote " . . . the nearby fields, the distant vistas, all seemed wrapped in some unearthly early twilight. The sky seemed darker - shadows faint and indistinct. A cool wind, almost chilly had sprung up from the west."

Observers in the Southwest states may want to look for similar effects around the time of maximum eclipse.

For Hawaiians, this will be an event lasting just over two hours from start to finish. At maximum eclipse (2:42 p.m. Hawaii Time) up to 52 percent of the Sun's diameter will be eclipsed.

For Alaska, eclipse coverage will range from only about 10 percent for northernmost locations (such as Barrow), to about 50 percent for the westernmost Aleutian Islands. As will be the case in Hawaii, this will be an early-afternoon affair.