
On Wednesday (Oct. 2) a ring of fire appeared in the sky over one of the most isolated islands on Earth as thousands of enormous stone heads looked on.
This was not a sign of the gods' fury (we hope) but a spectacular form of partial eclipse called an annular solar eclipse — sometimes dubbed a "ring of fire" eclipse, for the bright hoop of light that becomes visible during the eclipse's peak, when the moon blocks out roughly 90% of the sun's visible surface.