Rare annular eclipse occurs
18th May 2012
A ring of fire will light the skies in Asia and North America this weekend in a rare solar eclipse
If you're lucky enough to be in parts Japan, China or the USA this weekend you may see a rare annular solar eclipse causing a ring of fire in the sky. Other parts of Asia, the Pacific and North America will see a partial eclipse of varying degrees.
On Sunday 20 May the moon will be be in apogee, meaning that it will be too far away from earth to fully obscure the sun when it passes in front of it. The result is a dramatic ring of light surrounding the moon. The last eclipse of this sort occurred in 1994.
Early risers in Tokyo will see the annular eclipse lasting for five minutes in the small hours of Monday morning. In western parts of the USA, including northern California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and north-western Texas it will be visible at sunset. Further east a crescent eclipse will be visible, but America's east coast will miss out on the solar show.
Nasa's solar eclipse expert, Fred Espenak, says: "People always think that eclipses are extremely rare but there are at least two solar eclipses every year. Each of these annular eclipses covers a very small fraction of the Earth's surface." The next solar eclipse will be a total one occurring over the Pacific ocean in November, catching the east coast of Australia before passing over the water.
Here in the UK we'll miss seeing the firey ring, but for those of you who do catch it, make sure you use solar filters to watch it.
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