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LiveScience
LiveScience
Brandon Specktor

'Ring of fire' solar eclipse blazes over Easter Island in incredible new image

A time-lapse photo shows the progression of the annular solar eclipse that blazed across the skies over Easter Island (Rapa Nui) on Wednesday, Oct. 2. In the foreground is one of the iconic moai, or human-like statues, found all around the island. (Image credit: Josh Dury)

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.

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