--- description: The next one will be in February over South America title: Watch This 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse Over Africa image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ab68a353b4978c/6988a48a5f570f2859b2262a/africa-annular-solar-eclipse-moon-sun-ring-of-fire.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Science](/section/science/) ## Science Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [moon](/tag/moon/) ## moon Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Watch This 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse Block the Sun Over Africa by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2016 3:05 PM CUT  A picture taken on Sept. 1, 2016 shows the moon moving to cover the sun for a annular solar eclipse in the sky of in Dar es Salaam. A picture taken on Sept. 1, 2016 shows the moon moving to cover the sun for a annular solar eclipse in the sky of in Dar es Salaam.DANIEL HAYDUK—AFP/Getty Images by [Abigail Abrams](/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 1, 2016 3:05 PM CUT A halo of sun shone above parts of Africa on Thursday as the moon glided between the sun and the Earth, causing an annular or “ring of fire” eclipse. Unlike a total solar eclipse where the moon completely blocks the sun’s light, an annular eclipse occurs when the moon partially blocks the sun, leaving a run of sunlight around the edges. Thursday’s eclipse could be seen from countries including the Republic of Congo, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Madagascar and Mozambique, according to [NASA](http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2016Sep01Agoogle.html "undefined"). This video shows the view from the village of Saint-Gilles on Réunion, an island off the eastern coast of Africa. The event began a shortly after 2 a.m. EDT and ended around 8 a.m. EDT, [Space.com reported](http://www.space.com/33910-ring-of-fire-solar-eclipse-slooh-webcast-2016.html "undefined"). The next solar eclipse will take place Feb. 26, 2017 over South America, according to [NASA](http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/solar.html "undefined"), and a total solar eclipse will take place over the United States on Aug. 21, 2017. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4475866/africa-solar-eclipse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4475866/africa-solar-eclipse/"},"headline":"Watch This 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse Block the Sun Over Africa","datePublished":"2016-09-01T15:05:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:06:49.656Z","description":"The next one will be in February over South America","url":"https://time.com/4475866/africa-solar-eclipse/","keywords":["moon","Africa"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ab68a353b4978c/6988a48a5f570f2859b2262a/africa-annular-solar-eclipse-moon-sun-ring-of-fire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte7ab68a353b4978c/6988a48a5f570f2859b2262a/africa-annular-solar-eclipse-moon-sun-ring-of-fire.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"TANZANIA-ASTRONOMY-SCIENCE-ECLIPSE","caption":"TANZANIA-ASTRONOMY-SCIENCE-ECLIPSE","creditText":"DANIEL HAYDUK—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/moon/","name":"moon"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4475866/africa-solar-eclipse/","name":"Watch This 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse Block the Sun Over Africa"}}]}] ```