What Is A Ring Of Fire Annular Solar Eclipse NASA Explains

Space.com

NASA explains how a 'ring of fire' annular solar eclipse occurs and how it differs from a total solar eclipse.   WARNING: People should always use protective solar eclipse eyewear when viewing a solar eclipse.  Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Transcript

00:00Roughly every year or two, somewhere in the world, the Sun appears for a few moments as

00:05a ring of fire in the sky.

00:08This is called an annular solar eclipse.

00:11Annular comes from the Latin word annulus, which means ring.

00:15An annular solar eclipse occurs when a new moon passes directly in front of the Sun but

00:20appears too small to cover it completely.

00:23But why is that?

00:24It's because the Moon's orbit around Earth isn't a perfect circle, but rather an ellipse,

00:29or slightly oval-shaped.

00:31This causes the Moon to move closer to us and then farther away during its month-long orbit.

00:37When the Moon is at its closest point, called perigee, it appears slightly larger in our

00:41sky.

00:43When it's farthest from us, at apogee, it appears a little smaller.

00:48But we don't see an annular eclipse every month.

00:50That's because the Moon's orbit is also slightly tilted in relation to Earth's orbit around

00:56the Sun.

00:57This means during most months, the Moon is either too high or too low to block the Sun.

01:02So only when a new Moon is at apogee and passes directly between Earth and the Sun, do spectators

01:08on Earth get the rare opportunity to see the ring of fire in the sky.

01:13Unlike a total solar eclipse, when the Moon completely covers the Sun, during an annular

01:17eclipse, the Sun never fully disappears.

01:21So if you're lucky enough to be in the path of an annular solar eclipse, make sure to wear

01:25your solar eclipse glasses or use other safe solar filters to witness this spectacular ring

01:31of fire in the sky.

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