Can you find the Sun? OK, but can you explain why there's a big dark spot in the center? The spot is the Moon , and the impressive alignment shown, where the Moon lines up inside the Sun , is called an annular solar eclipse . Such an eclipse occurred just last week and was visible from a thin swath mostly in Earth 's southern hemisphere. The featured image was captured from Patagonia , Chile . When the Moon is significantly closer to the Earth and it aligns with the Sun, a total solar eclipse is then visible from parts of the Earth. Annular eclipses are slightly more common than total eclipses, but as the Moon moves slowly away from the Earth , before a billion more years , the Moon's orbit will no longer bring it close enough for a total solar eclipse to be seen from anywhere on Earth .
Gallery: Annular Eclipse of October 2024