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
WARNING: People should always use protective solar eclipse eyewear when viewing a solar eclipse.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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TechTranscript
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.