Sunday's Sky Show

Ring of fire eclipse as viewed from Iowa on Sunday.

From a park near Albuquerque, to the top of Japan's Mount Fuji, to the California coast the effect was dramatic: The moon nearly blotting out the sun creating a blazing "ring of fire" eclipse.


Millions of people across a narrow strip of eastern Asia and the Western U.S. turned their sights skyward for the annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges.


The rare lunar-solar alignment was visible in Asia early Monday before it moved across the Pacific — and the international dateline — where it was seen in parts of the western United States late Sunday afternoon.

People from Colorado, Oklahoma and as far away as Canada traveled to Albuquerque to enjoy one of the best vantage points at a park on the edge of the city.

Eclipse shadows travel at 1,100 miles per hour at the equator and up to 5,000 miles per hour near the poles.

The width of the path of totality is at most 167 miles wide.

The maximum number of solar eclipses (partial, annular, or total) is 5 per year.

There are at least 2 solar eclipses per year somewhere on the Earth.

Only partial solar eclipses can be observed from the North and South Poles.

Total solar eclipses happen about once every 1.5 years.