The total eclipse of the sun last summer was visible only from a tiny sliver of the South Pacific. Google Inc. founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin were among the few to see it—they flew there by private jet.

Two of the Google founders' planes flew the eight-plus hours from the U.S. mainland to Tahiti last July just before the eclipse, Federal Aviation Administration flight records show. Mr. Brin was spotted taking photos through a telescope as the pair watched the event from an island dock. Afterward, they posed for a snapshot...