Solar eclipse: ‘Ring of fire’ event to arrive in coming days

(AFP via Getty Images)

A “ring of fire” solar eclipse will appear over the sky in North America next week.

The annular solar eclipse – where the Moon passes in front of the Sun, blocking out some of its light and creating a blazing circle – will appear on the morning of 10 June.

It will only be visible to those in North America – and, even there, many people will not get the full sight. Only those in Northern Ontario and Quebec will get to see the eclipse at “totality”, as well as those in parts of Greenland and Russia.

But others will still get to see a partial version of the eclipse, with some version visible across much of the norrth east of the US and east of Canada.

A total annular solar eclipse is known as a “ring of fire”, because of the sight that appears when the Moon moves in front of the Sun. As it does, and because of the relative sizes in the sky, only the bright edges of the Sun can be seen, flaming away in a ring from behind the Moon.

But that exact spectacle will not be possible for many of those who are in the path of the eclipse, which includes New York. Some areas will not get to see the full thing because their location means the Sun and Moon will not exactly line up; others will also have a limited look because the maximum eclipse occurs before the sun actually rises in the sky.

But despite that, many places – all the way across from Boston to Winnipeg, and down from Quebec City to Charleston – will get some look at the solar eclipse as it occurs in the early morning of 10 June.

Anyone in those locations and looking up should be able to see it, and the location should not be difficult to find in the same way as some other celestial sights.

But it will look better with a clear view up to the Sun as it rises, with the Moon cutting a hole in it like a Pacman or an inverted version of the crescent Moon.

Viewers are also advised to ensure that they wear the right protective glasses as they look up at the Sun, or use equipment such as a pinhole camera. While the full brightness of the Sun will be dimmed during the eclipse, it will still be dangerous both during and after it, and not taking the right precautions could do major damage to anyone looking at the eclipse.