Tonight, a rare annular eclipse will create a spectacular ring of fire in the night sky.
The 2012 solar eclipse will be visible from China to Texas, but if you don’t have the proper equipment, or don’t live where the eclipse will be visible, you can check out a live stream of the event below.
National Geographic reports that the annular eclipse hasn’t been seen in the United States since 1994. The spectacular sky spectacle won’t occur again until 2023.
People in Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona, south west Colorado, New Mexico and Texas should all get a pretty good view of the event tonight.
Astronomer Bob Merman told Fox News :
“The western United States will enjoy bizarre solar effects that only occur every few decades. In the annularity path, which will be about 147 miles (237 km) wide when hitting our shores, the black moon will stand like a bull’s-eye in front of the sun, its motion through space in-your-face obvious.”
But even if you’re in the right location you might not be able to see tonight’s eclipse. Scientists are urging star gazers to use proper equipment to view the annular eclipse.
But don’t worry, if you haven’t purchased special eclipse glasses you’ll still be able to check out the ring of fire tonight.
Here’s a video about how to safely view an eclipse.
So why will tonight’s eclipse cause a “ring of fire?”
National Geographic reports that the moon will cross the path of the sun tonight just like a regular eclipse, but since the moon is close to apogee, the point in its orbit where it is farthest away from earth, the moon will appear smaller than the sun and will create a “ring of fire.”
Here are a few live videos of tonight’s solar eclipse.
You can read more about the 2012 Solar Eclipse here.
The opportunity to watch the 2012 annular solar eclipse has come and gone, but you can check out some cool photos and videos of the event here.