NEW JERSEY – Some have described this morning’s rare but visible eclipse as a “Ring of Fire.” Images of the phenomena were captured across North America by astronomers and those who were excited to see it.
This type of rare visual effect happens when the moon is near its farthest point from Earth during an eclipse, so the moon appears smaller than the sun in the sky but does not block the entire solar disk.
It is not as much a spectacle however as the partial lunar eclipse that occurred on the night of August 7, pre-dawn morning of August 8, 2017. The moon was slightly covered by the earth’s umbral shadow at the eclipse maximum.
This morning’s event was rather unique and since the lunar body didn’t block the entire view of the sunk it resembled a dark disk on top of a larger brighter disk hence the name “ring of fire” around the moon. Those in the northern hemisphere had the chance to see celestial show and if you missed it, it is the first of two solar eclipses that will occur in 2021.
The next chance to glimpse an eclipse will come on November 19. That will be a partial eclipse of the moon but another solar event which has the name of a popular song is a “ total eclipse of the sun” on December 4 but it won’t be visible in North America but will be in Falkland Island and the southern tip of Africa, Antarctica and southeastern Australia.
