Millions of people across the Americas were treated to a rare celestial phenomenon on Saturday as an annular solar eclipse — known as the “ring of fire” — temporarily darkened skies from Oregon to Brazil.
Spectators hooted and hollered as the moon passed in front of the sun, not completely blocking it out, but leaving a halo of sunlight piercing through at its edges.
In Albuquerque, New Mexico, hot-air balloons speckled a clear sky, taking people even closer to the eclipse as the event coincided with the city’s annual balloon festival.
“It’s very exciting to be here and have the convergence of our love of flying with something very natural like an eclipse,” balloon pilot Allan Hahn of Aurora, Colorado, said.
His balloon, named Heaven Bound Too, was one of 72 selected for a special “glow” performance as skies dimmed.
Much of the Western hemisphere fell in the eclipse’s west-east path: Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas in the US, with a sliver of California, Arizona and Colorado. It was also visible in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Brazil.
NASA and other space organizations livestreamed the eclipse.
The entire eclipse — from the moment the moon starts to obscure the sun until it’s back to normal — is 2 1/2 to three hours at any given spot.
However, the highly anticipated “ring of fire” portion lasts from just three to five minutes, depending on location.
In Cancun, Mexico, hundreds of people hoping to get a look at the obscured sun packed into the city’s planetarium to watch the eclipse. Some took a peek through box projectors, while others looked through telescopes and protective special glasses.
Children and adults cheered and whistled, with some raising their arms to the sky at the spectacle.
“It is the third one that I have seen, but I come because of the energy it gives you. It is something that nature brings us and that we must watch,” Pilar Cáceres, 77, a retired elementary school teacher said.
Other enthusiasts flocked to more remote regions for the eclipse, such as Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.
Kirby James and Caroline McGuire of Toronto said they hadn’t planned their trip to the popular park around the eclipse but were elated to be there for the “epic” experience among the red rock hoodoos.
“Nothing that you can read could prepare you for how it feels,” said Kirby James, 63, a co-founder of a software company. “It’s the moment, especially when the ring of fire came on, you realized you were having a lifetime experience.”
Next April, a total solar eclipse will move across the United States in the opposite direction, beginning in Mexico, then Texas and on to New England before concluding in eastern Canada.
The next ring of fire eclipse, which occurs less frequently, will be in October next year at the southernmost tip of South America. Antarctica will see one in 2026.
After that, the ring of fire will not be visible in the US until 2039 — and Alaska will be the only state in its direct path.
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