Solar eclipse to create rare 'ring of fire' over South America
An annular solar eclipse will create a rare "ring of
fire" phenomenon visible in parts of South America on Wednesday.
A "ring of fire" occurs when the Moon lines up
between the Sun and the Earth to create a solar eclipse but does not block out
the Sun's light entirely, Diego Hernandez with the Buenos Aires Planetarium
told AFP.
On Wednesday, the Moon "will be a little farther from
the Earth than usual, which happens about once a month," he said, meaning
it will not be able to completely cover the Sun.
A "crescent sun" will be visible before and after
the ring, as the Moon passes in front of the Sun, he added.
The solar eclipse's path will begin in the North Pacific,
pass over the Andes and Patagonia regions of Latin America, and finish in the
Atlantic.
The eclipse will last more than three hours, from 1700 to
around 2030 GMT, according to NASA.
But the "ring of fire" phenomenon is expected to
last just a few minutes, occurring around 1845 GMT, according to the IMCCE
Institute of France's Paris Observatory.
A partial eclipse will be visible from Bolivia, Peru,
Paraguay, Uruguay, parts of Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand and several islands in
the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, NASA said.
Space agencies and institutes have warned against observing
an eclipse with the naked eye, saying it can cause irreversible damage to the
retina. Ordinary sunglasses offer insufficient protection.
The only safe methods, according to NASA and the IMCEE, are
using certified special eclipse glasses, or watching indirectly through a pinhole
in a cardboard sheet projecting the image of the eclipsed Sun onto a second
cardboard sheet.
The next partial solar eclipse will take place on March 29,
2025, visible mainly from western North America, Europe and northwest Africa.
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