The “ring of fire” effect produced during an annular eclipse of the Sun

Science: Did you see the total solar eclipse on April 8? Here’s a follow-up. There are at least two solar eclipses each year, but not all are total. What’s happening today is an annular solar eclipse, where the new moon passes directly in front of the sun but doesn’t completely cover it. Because the moon will be farther from Earth than it will be on April 8, its disk will be too small to completely cover the sun, creating a “ring of fire” instead.

To see the ring today, you need to be within a narrow 165-mile (267-kilometer) wide path extending 8,800 miles (14,163 kilometers) across the Pacific Ocean, South America (southern Chile and Argentina’s Patagonia region) and the South Atlantic Ocean. It’s a sparsely populated area, home to just 175,000 people. Most people watching the eclipse will be heading to Easter Island (a remote island 2,200 miles (3,540 km) west of Rapa Nui, Chile). Much of South America will see a partial solar eclipse. Everyone else, whether in the path or not, will need to wear solar eclipse glasses or use solar filters on telescopes to view the event safely.