On October 2, 2024, a ring of fire will be visible in various areas of the Earth (but not from Italy). What is an annular solar eclipse? Let’s find out
An annular eclipse occurs when the it is located at the point far from the Earth (apogee) or close to it. Since our satellite is further away from our planet, it appears smaller and does not block the entire view of the Sun. This forms the so-called “ring of fire“. On October 2, 2024, the regions of South America and Oceania will be especially affected by the eclipse. The peak will be approximately 8.45pm Italian time (an article on how to watch it in streaming will follow). Below, here is the animation with the affected areas:
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The various types
In reality they exist well four types of solar eclipses: total, annular, partial and hybrid. Here’s what causes them:
- Total solar eclipses are perhaps the most extraordinary cosmic spectacle we can witness from Earth. The It has a diameter of almost one and a half million kilometers (1,390,473 to be precise) and is 400 times larger than that of our Moon (3,476 km). But the Moon is also about 400 times closer to the Earth, compared to the Sun and, consequently, when the orbital planes of the two celestial bodies intersect, the new Moon may appear to totally obscure the disk of the Sun;
- A solar eclipse partial of the Sun, however, occurs when only a part of the Sun is obscured by the Moon. The rest remains visible all the time and how much Sun you can see depends a lot from where you are;
- During an eclipse cancellationhowever, the Moon is too small to completely cover the Sun, a sort of “fake sunset” that lasts approximately 12 minutes;
- Solar eclipses hybrid instead they occur when an annular eclipse turns into a total eclipse (or vice versa during its path).
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Cover image credit NASA
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