WATCH: Chile Solar Eclipse Delights Easter Island

Tourists and scientists alike descended onto Easter Island to glimpse a solar eclipse that plunged parts of Latin America into complete darkness on Sunday.

The sky over the Chilean island was dark for a total of four minutes during the rare eclipse, which occurs when the moon passes between the sun and the Earth, blocking light rays and casting a shadow.

With Easter Island believed to be the best viewing spot for the eclipse -- which crossed the South Pacific before reading parts of southern Chile and Argentina -- the event lead to a dramatic surge in weekend visitors that was said to hover at 4,000, or twice the size of the population of the island itself.

Watch footage of the eclipse here:

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