IN PICTURES. Solar eclipse with ‘ring of fire’ illuminates southern tip of America

This is the 18th annular solar eclipse of the 21st century, and the second eclipse of 2024 after the total eclipse in April.

The legend of the ring set the sky ablaze. Part of the southern hemisphere witnessed an annular solar eclipse on Wednesday October 2. The splendor of thering of fire” was perfectly visible to few people, in the semi-desert Chilean and Argentinian Patagonia. If the eclipse phenomenon was to last more than three hours, according to NASA, the perfect annular eclipse in a restricted band only lasted a few minutes.

The southern tip of the continent and Easter Island had the privilege of fully seeing the phenomenon, which began in the North Pacific and ended in the South Atlantic. But several South American countries and Pacific islands have been able to partially observe it. The next partial solar eclipse will take place on March 29, 2025, and will be visible mainly from western North America, Europe and northwest Africa.

“It was impressive, wonderful. Like a little twilight”enthused to AFP Ninoska Huki, 55, from Easter Island with 7,000 inhabitants, 3,500 km from the Chilean coast, among the first to be able to observe the annular eclipse at midday local, with the statues in the background “Moai”. At the time of the ring of fire, “it was very windy, which also contributed to the reflection, and at a sublime moment when we were calm watching the eclipse. A magnificent twilight”mused Ninoska Huki.

Far on the other side of the Andes mountain range, in Argentine Patagonia, in Puerto San Julian, a small seaside resort 2,100 km from Buenos Aires, a few hundred duly covered people braved the cold and wind, to watch the moon nibble away at the sun, noted AFP. Small telescopes, special eclipse glasses or… welding masks, the amateur astronomers, often locals coming with family, but sometimes enthusiasts arriving from far away, enjoyed the phenomenon as much as the atmosphere of the place, at the end of the continent .

“I had seen a total eclipse, I was impressed, and from there I started following all the eclipses I could in Argentina”commented Julio Fernandez, a 58-year-old retiree from Cordoba, 2,200 km away. “But here it’s special because it’s far south.”

“A solar eclipse is the interposition of the Moon between the Sun and the Earth”reminded AFP Diego Hernandez, responsible for scientific dissemination at the Buenos Aires Planetarium. But in Wednesday’s case, “The Moon is going to be a little further from Earth than usual, something that happens about once a month.” Also“the Moon cannot completely cover the Sun”hence an orange ring, “a kind of ring of light coming from the Sun”. Before and after this ring of fire, a “crescent sun” is visible.

The eclipse began in the northern Pacific then from west to east, before “passing” through several islands and archipelagos, then crossing Chilean Patagonia, the Andes, Argentine Patagonia, to end in the Atlantic south. Wednesday’s eclipse, specifies the French Institute of Celestial Mechanics and Ephemeris Calculation (Imcce) is the 18th annular solar eclipse of the 21st century, and the second eclipse of 2024 after the total eclipse of April.