Sky enthusiasts throughout the Americas gazed upwards on Saturday to witness a rare celestial phenomenon: an annular solar eclipse. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, and various other locations in the western United States, people equipped with protective eyewear assembled to observe the Moon’s passage between the Sun and Earth at its farthest point from our planet. Due to this distance, the Moon did not completely cover the Sun, creating the mesmerizing “ring of fire” effect.
The Meteorological Office in Pakistan announced that the eclipse would not be visible in the country. The eclipse concluded at 1:55 a.m. according to Pakistan time.
Over the course of a few hours, the awe-inspiring “path of annularity” traversed several major cities, including Albuquerque, Eugene, Oregon, and San Antonio, Texas. Partial eclipse phases lasted for an hour or two before and after the annular phase.
At each specific location, the eclipse was visible for a duration ranging from 30 seconds to five minutes. However, authorities strongly advised safety precautions, urging people to use solar viewing glasses – not regular sunglasses – to protect their eyes. NASA cautioned against looking at the Sun through optical devices like cameras, telescopes, and binoculars while wearing eclipse glasses, as the concentrated solar rays could harm vision.
Following this, the eclipse journeyed across Mexico and Central America, then continued through South America, crossing Colombia and northern Brazil before concluding at sunset in the Atlantic Ocean.
For those who were not in the eclipse’s path, NASA provided a live stream of the event on nasa.gov/nasatv/ from 11:30 am to 1:15 pm Eastern Time (1530 to 1715 GMT), broadcasting from Albuquerque, as well as Carville, Texas, and White Sands, New Mexico.
Scientific Research
This eclipse also served as a rehearsal for a total eclipse scheduled for April 2024. Both eclipses will be of great significance for scientific research, according to Madhulika Guhathakurta, a heliophysics program scientist.
Solar eclipses have a discernible impact on the upper atmosphere, particularly the ionosphere, which contains charged particles and plays a role in reflecting and refracting radio waves. Guhathakurta noted that despite over 50 years of studying the atmospheric effects of solar eclipses, many questions remain unanswered.
To investigate these effects, NASA plans to launch three rockets from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to collect data on electric and magnetic fields, electron density, and temperature.
A total eclipse occurred in the United States in 2017. After the total eclipse in April 2024, the next one won’t happen until 2044, while the next annular eclipse is anticipated in 2046.
