The first eclipse season of the year is officially here as the “ring of fire” is set to dazzle sky.
A “ring of fire” solar eclipse on Tuesday will mark the first eclipse of 2026, but only about 2% of the world’s population will get to see it, reported CNN.
Dr. C. Alex Young, associate director for science communication in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt explained that the event, also called an annular solar eclipse, occurs “when the moon passes directly between the Earth and the sun, but the moon is too far away in its orbit to completely cover the sun’s disk.”
This results in a glowing ring of sunlight surrounding the moon’s dark silhouette, he explained, giving it the name “ring of fire.”
If the moon completely covers the sun, it becomes a total eclipse. A partial solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, but the sun, moon, and Earth are not perfectly lined up, according to NASA.
The best view of the ring of fire will be from a sliver of Antarctica, with a partial eclipse visible from the rest of the icy continent, as well as parts of Africa and South America.
Annular solar eclipses happen every one to two years, however many are not visible from most parts of the world.
As per NASA, there will be another annular eclipse on February 6, 2027, and it will be visible to larger swaths of South America and Africa. As for those in the United States, the next opportunity to see an annular eclipse will be in 2039.
Eclipses come in pairs and occasionally trios. Astronomers call these groups of events eclipse seasons, Young noted, adding that “a solar eclipse is always accompanied by a lunar eclipse about two weeks before or after.”
This annular eclipse marks the first eclipse of the season with a total lunar eclipse following on March 3.
