What is this person doing? In 2012 an annular eclipse of the Sun was visible over a
narrow path that crossed the northern Pacific Ocean and several western US states. In an annular solar
eclipse, the Moon is too far from the Earth to block out the entire Sun, leaving the Sun
peeking out over the Moon's disk in a ring of fire. To capture this
unusual solar event, an industrious photographer drove from
Arizona to
New Mexico to find just the right vista. After setting up and just as the eclipsed Sun was setting over a ridge about 0.5 kilometers away, a person unknowingly walked right into the shot. Although grateful for the unexpected human element, the photographer never learned the identity of the silhouetted interloper. It appears likely, though, that the person is holding a circular
device that would enable them to get their own view of the eclipse.
The shot was taken at sunset on 2012 May 20 at 7:36 pm local time from
a park near
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Tomorrow
another annular solar eclipse will
become visible, this time along a thin path starting in
Saudi Arabia and going through southern
India,
Singapore, and
Guam. However, almost
all of Asia with a clear sky will be able to see, tomorrow, at the least, a partial solar eclipse.