On Feb. 26, 2017, an annular eclipse of the sun was visible along a narrow path that stretched from the southern tip of South America, across the Atlantic Ocean and into southern Africa.
The first images from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager or SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite have been successful, capturing a large coronal hole on Jan. 29, 2017.
On Sunday, Feb. 26th, the Moon passed in front of the sun, off-center, transforming the solar disk into a crescent across much of Earth’s southern hemisphere.
It’s not a total eclipse, but it’s the next best thing.
Sky watchers in more than 50 African countries are about to witness a solar eclipse. On Thursday, Sept.1st, the Moon will pass in front of the sun, covering as much as 97% of the solar disk.
Edmund Halley – of Halley’s Comet fame – noted the ‘Chill and Damp which attended the Darkness’ of an eclipse in 1715, causing ‘some sense of Horror’ among the spectators.
