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Annular Eclipse over Patagonia

Explanation: Can you find the Sun? OK, but can you explain why there’s a big dark spot in the center? The spot is the Moon, and the impressive alignment shown, where the Moon lines up inside the Sun, is called an annular solar eclipse. Such an eclipse occurred just last week and was visible from a thin swath mostly in Earth's southern hemisphere. The featured image was captured from Patagonia, Chile. When the Moon is significantly closer to the Earth and it aligns with the Sun, a total solar eclipse is then visible from parts of the Earth. Annular eclipses are slightly more common than total eclipses, but as the Moon moves slowly away from the Earth, before a billion more years, the Moon's orbit will no longer bring it close enough for a total solar eclipse to be seen from anywhere on Earth.

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This annular eclipse Sun reminds me of a portrait of the Earthshine thin, thin crescent Moon in a picture by Wael Omar.


The Sun and the Moon both look like "loops in the sky" with a transparent middle. Both images look magical.

Ann

I wonder how many habitable worlds there are that enjoy such excellent eclipses?

It looks like the moon is not covering enough of the sun for even an annular eclipse.

And yep, the new password is a bit of a pain.

Guest wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2024 5:01 pm And yep, the new password is a bit of a pain.

New password? What do you mean? I'm using the same password I always have and haven't had to reset it.

Jim Armstrong wrote: ↑Tue Oct 08, 2024 4:59 pm It looks like the moon is not covering enough of the sun for even an annular eclipse.

It certainly does, and I noticed that too. I think it is a photographic effect, where the sharp sun light spreads over, or overflows, the nearest surrounding area, thus making the dark moon smaller than it actually is.
I have seen it in other pictures of solar eclipses.