WASHINGTON, May 9 (RIA Novosti) – The moon will partially block the sun Thursday to produce a potentially spectacular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that will be visible to anyone with an Internet connection, thanks to the astronomy buffs at Slooh.com.
Slooh will stream the eclipse live, starting at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT), as the cosmic light show is tracked by an observatory in Australia. The eclipse will be visible at dawn from the Australian outback, and residents of Hawaii, parts of the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand will be able to see partial ring-of-fire eclipses, weather-permitting.
“The entire event will last two hours at least, with the ‘ring of fire’ portion happening about an hour in,” Slooh’s president, Patrick Paolucci, told RIA Novosti.
Ring-of-fire, or annular, eclipses occur when the Moon passes directly in front of the sun, but the lunar disk is not quite wide enough to cover the entire star.
According to the EarthSky.org website, the sun will be almost entirely covered by the moon during Thursday’s eclipse but the sky will not darken during the eclipse.
“Those in the right place on Earth to see the eclipse will need to look at it through specially filtered glasses for the entire event,” EarthSky said.
But for those who watch it on their computer or phone, protective eyewear is not required.
