Solar Eclipse 2023 over the U.S. Saturday

On Saturday, a celestial spectacle will occur over North, Central and South America as an annular solar eclipse creates a “ring of fire” in the sky.

Annular solar eclipses are like total solar eclipses, except the moon is at the farthest point in its orbit from Earth, so it can’t completely block the sun. Instead, the sun’s fiery light surrounds the moon’s shadow, creating the so-called ring of fire.

And you don’t want to miss the chance to see this scintillating event — an annular eclipse won’t appear over this part of the world again until 2046, according to NASA.

“It is like nothing you’ve ever experienced before,” said Mitzi Adams, assistant chief of the Heliophysics and Planetary Science Branch at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center​, in a statement. “It’s sort of like somebody puts a bowl on top of Earth right above where you’re standing. In the middle of the day, it gets darker, but you can still see light around the rim.”

Because the moon is farther than usual from Earth during an annular solar eclipse, the moon will not completely obscure the sun, instead looking like a dark disk superimposed atop the sun's larger, bright face in the sky. As a result, the eclipse will momentarily look like a ring of fire surrounding the dark disc of the moon. A total solar eclipse is due to occur on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada.

In the U.S., the annular eclipse will start at 9:13 a.m. PDT in Oregon and will last be visible in Texas at 12:03 p.m. CDT before moving on to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, according to NASA.

The partial eclipse will begin and end later, however. For example, the partial eclipse in Eugene, Oregon, will begin at 8:06 a.m. PDT but annularity won’t start until 9:16 a.m., reaching its maximum two minutes later. The partial eclipse in Eugene ends at 10:39 a.m. PDT.

Lunar eclipses occur when Earth is positioned between the moon and the sun and our planet's shadow is cast upon the lunar surface. This leaves the moon looking dim from Earth, sometimes with a reddish color. Lunar eclipses are visible from half of Earth, a much wide area than solar eclipses.

In the United States, states within the eclipse's viewing path include Oregon, Idaho, California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas.

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Sarah H

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