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What it is : An annularsolar occultation
Where it is : Over Rapa Nui , also roll in the hay asEaster Island , in the Pacific Ocean
A “ring of fire” annular solar eclipse as seen on Oct. 2 from Easter Island.
When it was shared : Oct. 2 , 2024
Why it ’s so special : For up to 7 minutes , 25 seconds on Wednesday , Oct. 2 , the raw synodic month appear to sit utterly inside the Sunday ’s diskduring a partial " ring of fire " solar occultation . On both sides of that brusk time , the edge of the moon appeared to touch the privileged bound of the Dominicus , cause " Baily ’s string of beads " — sunlight pouring through the moonlight ’s mountains — to fizz . Onlookers had to apply solar eclipse looking glass and equipment fitted with solar filter to safely observe the phenomenon .
Annular solar eclipses differ from full solar eclipses because the moonshine is far from Earth , so the lunation ca n’t cover the sunlight ’s entire record . On Oct. 2 , the moonlight eclipsed 86.9 % of the Dominicus at its bill while appearing 6.4 % smaller than middling , grant toMoonblink .
However , there are fashion to visualise the eclipse safely while extracting more particular than is potential through steady solar filter . This very special image was taken by astrophotographerAditya Madhavanwhile travel with the eclipse tour groupAstro Trailsto Easter Island . Madhavan used a Lunt H - alpha scope , which sees in only the wavelength of light created by hydrogen atoms on the Dominicus .
" We ’re attend at the sun ’s image in hydrogen - alpha , and what we ’re seeing is the chromosphere of the sun , specifically in the wavelength of 656.28 millimicron , " Madhavan told Live Science . The sunshine ’s chromosphere is a fragile bed of plasma that lies between the sun ’s seeable surface , call the photosphere , and the sunshine ’s upper standard pressure , or Saint Elmo’s light , whichbecomes visible to the naked eye during a full solar eclipse .
" It ’s a special kind of filter known as an atomic number 1 - alpha etalon that sequestrate that layer of the sunshine ’s atmosphere , " Madhavan sum up . The photographer used a Lunt 40 - mm hydrogen Alpha scope using a QHY174 monochrome camera and trailing on a Rainbow Astro RST 135 mount . That allow for him to capturesolar prominences — bright features extending outwards from the sun ’s Earth’s surface and into the Saint Ulmo’s light — around the solar branch
Related:‘Ring of fire ' solar occultation blazes over Easter Island in incredible new image
In penetrating dividing line to the full solar eclipse in North America on April 8 , which cut through over about 50 million people , this eclipse was visible only from within a remote path about 165 to 206 mil ( 265 to 331 kilometers ) wide across distant Patagonia in both Chile and Argentina , where scarce 175,000 multitude go , as well as from Easter Island .
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Madhavan observed the eclipse above a spectacular water system - satiate volcanic caldera called Rano Kau . From that locating , annularity — the moment when the moonlight appeared to sit within the sunlight with a " ring of fire " circle its edge — lasted up to 6 minutes , 10 seconds .
Although the " ring of fire " was also visible from parts of Patagonia in Chile and Argentina , most occultation chaser travel to Easter Island , some 2,200 miles ( 3,500 km ) off the seashore of Chile . It ’s home to rough 1,000 human - faced moai statues , all stare inland from its sea-coast and constructed primarily between 1150 and 1290 . A midget island covering just 63 straight miles ( 163 straight kilometers ) , Rapa Nui is not often in the way of life of solar eclipses . This was Rapa Nui ’s first annular solar occultation since 1788 and its last until 2345 .
It was Earth ’s first annular solar occultation since Oct. 14 , 2023 , the last until Feb. 17 , 2026 , and the longest until Feb. 6 , 2027 , when a " hoop of fire " will be visible for 7 minutes , 51 seconds from Chile , Argentina , Uruguay , Côte d’Ivoire , Ghana , Togo , Benin and Nigeria , agree toTimeanddate .
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