I Missed Solar Eclipse

My explanation, such as it is.

"Millions look skyward to glimpse eclipse" Associated Press, May 21, 2012

TOKYO - Millions of people in parts of East Asia and the western United States got to see a rare “ring of fire’’ eclipse of the sun.

Early risers in southern China, northern Taiwan, and southeastern Japan got the best view about dawn Monday. The eclipse moved across the Pacific, with the western United States viewing the tail end Sunday evening.

The event, called an annular solar eclipse, occurs when the moon slides across the sun, blocking all but a blazing halo of light. For 3 1/2 hours, the eclipse was expected to follow an 8,500-mile path.

Weather permitting, the glowing ring was to be observable in southwest Oregon, Northern California, central Nevada, southern Utah, northern Arizona and New Mexico, and finally the Texas Panhandle.

The last time this type of eclipse was seen in the United States was in 1994.

This year, 33 national parks were in the eclipse path, including the Grand Canyon and Bryce Canyon. A partial eclipse could be viewed from another 125 national parks.

The Eastern Seaboard was shut out.  

Oh, I wouldn't have been able to see it anyway.

An annular solar eclipse is not as dramatic as a total eclipse, when the disk of the sun is entirely blocked by the moon. The moon crosses in front of the sun, but the moon is too far from Earth and appears too small in the sky to blot out the sun completely.

--more--"   

Also see: Fly Me To the Moon

Going to be missing a lot more of the Boston Globe in days to come.