A total solar eclipse occurred on March 29, 2006.^[1][2] A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby totally or partly obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is larger than the Sun's, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs in a narrow path across Earth's surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of kilometres wide. It was visible from a narrow corridor which traversed half the Earth. The magnitude, that is, the ratio between the apparent sizes of the Moon and that of the Sun, was 1.052, and it was part of Saros 139.

It was the second solar eclipse visible in Africa in just 6 months.

The path of totality of the Moon's shadow began at sunrise in Brazil and extended across the Atlantic to Africa, traveling across Ghana, the southeastern tip of Ivory Coast, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Libya, and a small corner of northwest Egypt, from there across the Mediterranean Sea to Greece (Kastellórizo) and Turkey, then across the Black Sea via Georgia, Russia, and Kazakhstan to Western Mongolia, where it ended at sunset. A partial eclipse was seen from the much broader path of the Moon's penumbra, including the northern two-thirds of Africa, the whole of Europe, and Central Asia.

People around the world gathered in areas where the eclipse was visible to view the event. The Manchester Astronomical Society, the Malaysian Space Agency, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, as well as dozens of tour groups met at the Apollo temple and the theater in Side, Turkey. The San Francisco Exploratorium featured a live webcast from the site, where thousands of observers were seated in the ancient, Roman-style theater.^[3]

Almost all actively visited areas in the path of totality had perfect weather. Many observers reported an unusually beautiful eclipse, with many or all effects visible, and a very nice corona, despite the proximity to the solar minimum. The partial phase of the eclipse was also visible from the International Space Station, where the astronauts on board took spectacular pictures of the moon's shadow on Earth's surface. It initially appeared as though an orbit correction set for the middle of March would bring the ISS into the path of totality, but this correction was postponed.

• Cape Coast, Ghana (9:10 UTC)
• Murzuq District, Libya (10:16 UTC)
• Valencia, Spain (10:16 UTC)
• Oria, Italy (10:39 UTC)
• The Moon's shadow as seen from the International Space Station (10:50 UTC)
• Berkhamsted, England (11:01 UTC)
• Marousi, Greece (11:01 UTC)
• Krasnoyarsk, Russia (11:20 UTC)
• Lagan, Russia (11:23 UTC)
• Novosibirsk, Russia (11:42 UTC)
• Kathmandu, Nepal (12:01 UTC)
• Degania A, Israel: Partial Solar Eclipse
• Animation from Sallum, Egypt

The satellite responsible for SKY Network Television, a New Zealand pay TV company, failed the day after this eclipse at around 1900 local time. While SKY didn't directly attribute the failure to the eclipse, they said in a media release that it took longer to resolve the issue because of it, but this claim was rejected by astronomers. The main reason for the failure was because of an aging and increasingly faulty satellite.^[4]