While the new moon this Tuesday (Feb. 17) will pass without much fanfare in most of the world, something more exciting will be taking place over a sliver of Antarctica: a "ring of fire" solar eclipse, also known as an annular solar eclipse.
During an annular solar eclipse, the moon passes directly in front of the sun but appears too small in the sky to cover it completely. That’s because the moon is at its farthest point from Earth in its slightly elliptical orbit during these rare eclipses. On Feb. 17, 96% of the sun will be covered during the "ring of fire."
