--- title: How to See This Year's Rare 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse description: On Saturday Oct. 14, people across the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern U.S. will be treated to a rare celestial spectacle. canonical: https://time.com/6323188/how-to-see-ring-of-fire-annular-solar-eclipse/ author: Solcyré Burga article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-10-13T11:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:32.381Z article:section: Science og:title: How to See This Year's Rare 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse og:description: This is the last annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. until 2039. og:url: https://time.com/6323188/how-to-see-ring-of-fire-annular-solar-eclipse/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e19f94f088d8ff8/698a41354ee262ed6f31bd26/ring-of-fire-annular-solar-eclipse-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: TOPSHOT-INDIA-ASTRONOMY-SOLAR-ECLIPSE og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How to See This Year's Rare 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse twitter:description: This is the last annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. until 2039. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0e19f94f088d8ff8/698a41354ee262ed6f31bd26/ring-of-fire-annular-solar-eclipse-2023.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # How to See This Year's Rare 'Ring of Fire' Solar Eclipse > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Future Proof: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Future Proof is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Making sense of the climate and energy economy. Future Proof examines the forces transforming energy and climate, and what those changes mean for business, technology, policy and the global economy. Senior correspondent Justin Worland goes beyond traditional climate coverage to connect the energy transition to the bigger decisions reshaping companies, markets and society. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: What Is An Annular Solar Eclipse? [Watch (HLS stream): What Is An Annular Solar Eclipse?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/sjwU847L.m3u8) (4:28)  _Published 2023-10-13. The 2023 eclipse is an annular solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon is farthest away from the Earth. A “ring of fire” will be created in the sky when the eclipse reaches its peak on Saturday._ Oct 13, 2023 11:00 AM UTC  by [Solcyré Burga](https://time.com/author/solcyre-burga/)  ## Solcyré Burga Reporter Oct 13, 2023 11:00 AM UTC From the Pacific Northwest through the Southwest, people in the U.S. will be able to view a celestial spectacle on Saturday night, when the moon passes between the sun and Earth, obscuring the sun’s light, bringing forth this year’s solar eclipse. The 2023 [eclipse](https://time.com/4897581/total-solar-eclipse-years-next/) is an annular solar eclipse, which occurs when the moon is farthest away from the Earth. That distance means it won’t be a total eclipse because the moon will not block out all of the sun’s light. Instead a “ring of fire” will be created in the sky when the eclipse reaches its peak. The eclipse will be most visible through Southern Oregon, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Southwest Texas. Other states may still be able to view some of the eclipse, but only partially, meaning they will only see a crescent shape. The annular solar eclipse starts at 9:13 a.m. PDT on the West coast, [according to NASA](https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/where-when/), though a [partial eclipse](https://time.com/4902927/partial-solar-eclipse-definition/) will be visible shortly after 8 a.m. in Eugene, Ore. This is the last annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse that will be visible in the U.S. until 2039, [though Alaskans](https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/) will be the only ones to view that event. ## **Where the eclipse is happening** The solar eclipse will pass diagonally from states as far west as Oregon before moving south down through Texas. Big cities like Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico are within the path to view the full ring of fire. In San Antonio, Texas, residents can expect to [see anywhere from](https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/) three to four-and-a-half minutes of the eclipse. To determine whether a specific location will see the eclipse, NASA has an interactive map showing the path the 2023 eclipse [is taking](https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2023/where-when/) while also listing times when the astronomical event begins. The eclipse will also be visible to countries south of the U.S., namely Guatemala, Colombia, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Brazil, and northwest Mexico. **Read more:** [_Why Total Solar Eclipses Are So Rare_](https://time.com/4834676/total-solar-eclipse-2017-rare/) Residents in the Northeast and Midwestern U.S. will have a better chance at seeing the eclipse next year, when a total solar eclipse occurs in April 2024\. A total solar eclipse differs from this weekend’s event because the moon will be much closer to the Earth, [entirely obscuring](https://www.weather.gov/fsd/suneclipse) the sun. ## **How to watch the eclipse safely** Because the annular solar eclipse never fully blocks sunlight, experts warn people that they must wear specialized eye protection when viewing this phenomenon. The use of binoculars, a camera lens, or a telescope that does not have a “special-purpose” solar filter will [cause serious eye damage](https://time.com/4890397/solar-eclipse-damage-eyes-protect/), NASA [warns](https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/). Sunglasses are also ill-equipped to adequately protect people’s eyes. Instead, spectators should opt for eclipse glasses, also known as solar viewing glasses, or solar viewing cards. Your eclipse glasses should meet the ISO 12312-2:2015 safety standard. There is no way for everyday people to verify this on their own without the use of a spectrophotometer, so experts suggest that people make sure that they purchase their [product from a](https://eclipse.aas.org/eye-safety/iso-certification) reputable manufacturer or an authorized distributor. Online sites like Amazon and eBay are not currently on the list of [verifiable vendors](https://eclipse.aas.org/resources/solar-filters). Those who do not have special lenses can use the indirect viewing method, which means viewers do not look directly at the sun and instead use a pinhole projector. Instructions for how to make your own projector are on the NASA [site](https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/safety/). Experts also recommend that spectators wear sunscreen and protective clothing while viewing an eclipse because they will likely be exposed to the sun for an extended period of time. ## Transcript The moon and the sun are all going around in space, right? And so Earth is orbiting around the Sun, mean while the moon is going around herb. Sometimes we all just by chance kind of lineup in Lapine. So I'm Morgan McLeod, I'm an astronomer at the harvard-smithsonian center for astrophysics. In Cambridge Massachusetts, the moon in the sky blocks all or part of the Sun and we have an eclipse coming up this fall on October 14th, 2023 wrench and so what's going to happen is perfectly in front of the Sun and something you may have noticed is both the moon and the sun look about the same size in our Sky. I must not because they're the same size and they're different sizes and different distances, further wet, there about half degree in angle, of the size of a fingernail on the sky. What that means is that the Moon is about the right size. Block the Sun. A total eclipse is when the moon perfectly blocking the sun always see is the atmosphere around the Sun. We're seeing the sun's extremely hot million degree on the sphere sexually hotter than the surface of the Sun. The surface of the Sun is about 5000 degrees, but its atmosphere is close to a million. Annular eclipse is what would be the total eclipse? What is the farthest point in its orbit is closer to 400000 km than its average 380,000. It's a little bit too small to cover the entire sun and what we'll see instead is a ring of Bryson around the outside and most of the sun blocked out by the moon. When you see that with just your eyes, you know, the sun is so bright, it is hard to see what's going on. But if you have either a pinhole projector or eclipse glasses, you can see the perfect ring lit up, son, just behind the moon in the right spot on the earth. And so people will travel all over the Earth just to be in the path of the solar eclipse in the path of the Moon. Blocking the sun is narrow on Earth and narrow path. That will see a total eclipse bigger path. That will see a partial eclipse. So even if an eclipses total somewhere is partial somewhere else. So just be a few cities away might be enough that you're not like aligned enough said you would see a partial instead of a total eclipse. Now, to get that kind of perfect alignment with a perfect ring, you have to be right in the path of that, the path of that Eclipse, it passes through Texas. For example, where I live in Massachusetts will see a partial eclipse of the moon will miss a little bit but it'll partially blocking out the Sun and Moon perfectly blocks out. The sun is only a couple minutes long, but it's supposed to be a completely amazing moment. Because rather than just our normal bright disc, you get to see it's hot outer atmosphere that normally glowing, most of that energies coming off as X-rays. And you see this sort of stringing out at the moment. 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