RING OF FIRE ECLIPSE TODAY On May 9-10, 2013

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Ring Of Fire Eclipse On May 9-10, 2013


Tuesday, May 7, 2013 8:10

Those in the Australian outback and parts of the Pacific Ocean will be
able to view an annular solar eclipse. Elsewhere … a partial eclipse.



Those in the Australian outback and parts of the Pacific Ocean will be
able to view an annular eclipse of the sun – what some are calling a ring of fire
eclipse – in which a ring of the sun’s surface appears around the body
of the moon’s silhouette. The eclipse will take place on the morning of
May 10, 2013 at shortly after 8 a.m. local time. Elsewhere, it’ll be May
9. About 95% of the solar disk will be covered, and yet this is
considered a partial eclipse. At no time will the sky darken, or stars
pop into view. The remaining 5% of sun is so bright that those in the
right place on Earth to see the eclipse will need to look at it through
specially filtered glasses for the entire event. View the illustrations
or click the links below to learn more about the May 10, 2013 annular
solar eclipse.



May 10, 2013 annular eclipse of the sun, visible in Australia and
into the South Pacific. Narrow yellow path in middle: annular solar
eclipse. Large swath of blue surrounding yellow path: partial solar
eclipse. Illustration by Michael Zeiler.


Why do they call it a ring of fire eclipse?

The May 10 annular eclipse as seen in Australia.

The May 10 annular eclipse as seen in the Pacific.

The rest of Australia will see a partial solar eclipse.

Hawaii and west coast of Baja California will see the partial eclipse, too.

Special equipment is needed to watch the eclipse.

When is the next solar eclipse?

Why do they call it a ring of fire eclipse? This is
an annular eclipse of the sun, not a total eclipse. In other words, at
mid-eclipse, the moon is too far away in its orbit to cover the sun
completely. At mid-eclipse, instead of the moon blotting the sun from
view, people equipped with special filters to protect their eyes will
see the fiery outer surface of the sun in a ring around the silhouetted
moon.

The May 10 annular eclipse as seen in Australia. The
annular phase will start in extreme northwest Australia in the state of
Western Australia, where some veteran eclipse chasers will try to see it
at sunrise. The 300-km-wide path will include Tennant Creek, about 500
km north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The path of
annularity will leave the Australian continent well north of Cairns,
where tens of thousands of people saw a total solar eclipse in November,
and even north of Cooktown; Cliff Island and Flinders Group National
Parks will be in the zone. Annularity will last about 3 minutes at
Tennant Creek and about 4-1/2 minutes at the centerline, about 50 km
north of Tennant Creek. The path of annularity will leave Queensland
with about 4-3/4 minutes of annularity.

The May 10 annular eclipse as seen in the Pacific.
While traversing the Pacific, the path of annularity will include the
Hula peninsula of Papua New Guinea, where Pasachoff saw the 1984 total
solar eclipse, and the northwestern Solomon Islands. The peak duration
of the eclipse will be slightly east of the Tarawa (Kiribati) islands,
with about 6 minutes of annularity.

The rest of Australia will see a partial eclipse.
Weather permitting, everyone in Australia, except for the western third
of Western Australia, would be able to see a partial eclipse. The Sun’s
diameter will be 36% covered in Melbourne at about 8:50 a.m. local time,
38% covered in Canberra, 39% covered in Sydney at about 8:55 a.m. local
time, and 52% covered in Brisbane. Partial phases will also be visible
in the southern Philippines, in eastern Indonesia, in Papua New Guinea,
and in the northeastern part of New Zealand’s south island and all of
its north island, though with only 8% coverage in Auckland.