Longest solar eclipse for 1,000 years turns Sun into a blazing ring of fire

Link

The sun is reduced to a ring of gold against the black sky as the Moon slips between it and Earth.
This solar eclipse yesterday lasted for 11 minutes and eight seconds, setting a record that will not be beaten until December 23, 3043.
Such events, which only blot out the middle of the Sun, are known as annular eclipses. They occur about 66 times a century and can only be viewed in the narrow band on the Earth’s surface below their path.


This is beautiful. I have always wanted to see a solar eclipse. I've seen plenty of Lunar ones. So pretty.

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awesome photo. I'm always at the wrong place on the planet when these eclipses happen.

Hope one will pass by here in new zealand someday before i die!!

reply to post by grantbeed


I hope one shows up in america lol! We can only hope =)

Our hope fades, men of the West: Sauron has recovered the One Ring, and will cover the lands in a second darkness. His lidless eye, rimmed with fire, already watches us with a burning malevolent gaze. Alas! that we should live to see such a time!

reply to post by capgirl


Recent and upcoming solar eclipses

Next eclipse for North America: May 20, 2012 but it's only annular and will likely be partial.

August 21, 2017 will be great!

Originally posted by links234
August 21, 2017 will be great!

Here is a good link for the 2017 eclipse. Be sure to check-out the interactive map. If you click on the map, it will give you precise information about the eclipse at that location.

In my life, I have seen the Sun rise on the Himalayas, my son being born, and had an actual back-and-forth conversation with a dolphin, but I have never seen anything as mind-blowing as a total solar eclipse - and I've seen two of those. They are worth travelling a long way to see.

A few of pointers:

1.) You MUST be in the path of totality. Even having 99% is not enough. It is literally the difference between night and day. Ideally, you should try to be as close to the centerline of the path as possible, as this will give you the longest duration of totality.

B.) Choose a location somewhere in the country that is dry. The lower the humidity, the better (specifically, for the meterologically-minded, look for the biggest difference between the local temperature and the dew-point). The reason is simple: For all practical purposes, the Sun is going out. As the light-level drops in the minutes before totality, the air cools rapidly and this can cause thick clouds to form in what was a clear sky just a short time before (the clouds go away again after totality ends). Many a would-be eclipse-watcher has been left standing in the dark under a thick overcast when the magic moment arrived.

III.) To avoid missing-out due to clouds, make sure your observing site is close (

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[edit on 18-1-2010 by Saint Exupery]

I remember a long time ago, well not too long ago, but it was on Christmas day. There was a Solar eclipse and my dad took me out to see it. I live in ohio btw. It was only a partial but he tought be something easy to do. He poked a hole in a peice of paper, then put it over another peice of paper. You could see the sunlight going through the hole, and then you could see the shadow getting bigger and bigger till it was partially covered. It was pretty neat Ithought.