A solar eclipse is observed at Coquimbo, Chile. Photo: Reuters
Dr Griffin and the museum's assistant curator of natural sciences, Kane Fleury, travelled to the islands via boat from Papeete as part of a $20,000 trip funded by a research grant.
They witnessed the eclipse from a boat just offshore of Oeno Island early this morning NZT
There is almost no light pollution there to disrupt the starry skies, making it an ideal place to photograph the eclipse.
The pair had been hoping for clear skies, but despite cloudy conditions Dr Griffen said on Twitter they were still able to enjoy three minutes of darkness.
Mr Fleury also shared a video on Twitter which showed the boat and its surrounds in almost total darkness.
In a column for the Otago Daily Times Dr Griffin said getting to the remote spot was an "adventure in itself, incorporating flights to Auckland, Tahiti and Mangareva, followed by a 36-hour trip from Mangareva to Oeno on board MV Silver Supporter, the Pitcairn Island Government's freighter".
He said the eclipse was to begin at 5.06am (Dunedin time) when the dark lunar disc first takes a bite out of the sun.
Over the next 70min, the moon covered more and more of the sun, until at 6.24am when the sun would be entirely eclipsed.
It was not visible from New Zealand, but was in parts of Chile, where hundreds of thousands of tourists scattered across the north Chilean desert on to experience the rare phenomenon beneath the world's clearest skies.
A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun, plunging the planet into darkness. It happens only rarely in any given spot across the globe.
The best views this time were from Chile's sprawling Atacama desert north of the coastal city of La Serena, where a lack of humidity and city lights combine to create the world's clearest skies.
The region had not seen an eclipse since 1592, according to the Chilean Astronomy Society. The next one is expected in 2165.
With Reuters
