Annular eclipse — ring of fire over the US West (2023)
From Oregon to Texas across the US West — a 4 min 42 s ring above the Albuquerque balloon fiesta.
📍 Visible from where you are right now — computed in your browser
bearing · altitude · rise time · best time tonight
The moment of Annular eclipse — ring of fire over the US West (2023): https://nowsky.org/e/annular-eclipse-2023 — opens at the right place and time, replayable, no login.
Available views: Orbit ✓ · Sky ✓
The story
On 14 October 2023 a ring of fire cut diagonally across the American West. It came ashore on the Oregon coast, ran through Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico into southern Texas, then crossed the Yucatán, Central America and Colombia before ending at sunset over the Brazilian Amazon. The band was roughly 190 km wide.
At Albuquerque the ring lasted 4 minutes 42 seconds around 10:35 in the morning. It coincided with the city's International Balloon Fiesta, held every early October, producing the sight of an eclipse watched beneath hundreds of hot-air balloons — a path and a major festival rarely share a city on the same day.
Across Utah and Arizona the ring hung above the red sandstone of the national parks; Bryce Canyon, Capitol Reef and Monument Valley all lay inside the track, and the dry autumn skies of the Southwest were clear at most sites. Maximum annularity, 5 minutes 17 seconds, fell off the coast of Nicaragua.
The eclipse served as a preview for the North American total eclipse six months later, on 8 April 2024. The two tracks crossed near San Antonio, Texas, and towns at the intersection saw both a ring and a black Sun within half a year. The sky replay shows that Albuquerque morning; the orbit view shows the shadow crossing the continent.
Why it matters
It was the first annular over the contiguous United States since 2012, and paired with the total eclipse six months later it made an "eclipse education year". NASA and state science centres began glasses distribution and safety outreach here as a rehearsal for 2024.
NASA-backed citizen science was trialled at scale: an annular edition of the "Eclipse Megamovie", stitching together images from dozens of amateur telescopes along the path, and radio experiments by amateurs measuring the eclipse's imprint on the ionosphere.
Annulars are easy to underrate next to totality, yet the minutes when the Sun shrinks to a ring teach the Moon's size and distance by intuition: an apogee Moon failing to cover the Sun is itself evidence of orbital eccentricity.
How to watch
Annular track: Oregon (9:15 PDT) → Nevada and Utah → the Four Corners of Arizona → Albuquerque (10:35 MDT) → San Antonio and Corpus Christi → the Yucatán → Central America → Colombia and Brazil at sunset. Partial phases were visible across North America and northern South America. Not visible from Korea.
An annular needs certified filters from start to finish. Ahead of this date, counterfeit glasses that did not meet ISO 12312-2 reached US shops and prompted consumer warnings — checking the standard mark, not the seller, is the basic safeguard.
The sky replay tracks the Sun over Albuquerque and slows as the ring closes; switch the location to San Antonio for the ring as seen at the crossing point with the 2024 total.
See this for yourself — open that sky at that moment · replay the moment in the orbit view
Background
The eclipse is the 44th of Saros 134. Its predecessor on 3 October 2005 was an annular over Spain and Africa; its successor on 25 October 2041 crosses Japan's Tohoku region.
The American West had already hosted the May 2012 annular (Albuquerque was inside both), and the April 2024 total was followed by totals in August 2044 and August 2045 — from the 2020s to the 2040s North America is unusually rich in central eclipses.
Where the path crossed Navajo and Hopi lands, traditional custom discourages outdoor activity during an eclipse, and some park sites offered quiet viewing instead of festivals — a case where astronomy and local culture were weighed together.
The October 2023 annular was the first of the “North American double” paired with the total eclipse of 8 April 2024. The two paths, six months apart, crossed near San Antonio, Texas, where residents saw both an annular and a total eclipse within half a year. The 2023 path ran from the Oregon coast through Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Texas to Mexico’s Yucatán, Central America, Colombia and Brazil. It coincided with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and photographs of the ring above hundreds of balloons became the eclipse’s emblem.
FAQ
How long did the ring last over Albuquerque?
4 minutes 42 seconds, around 10:35 in the morning.
Where did it cross the 2024 total eclipse path?
Near San Antonio, Texas, which saw both an annular and a total within six months.
Where was the ring longest?
Off the coast of Nicaragua, at 5 minutes 17 seconds.
Was it visible from Korea?
No — it was night in Korea and the path lay over the Americas.
Related
- The 2024 North American total eclipse
- The 2012 annular over Tokyo and the US West
- The 2024 annular over Easter Island
- The Sun — object index
- The Moon — object index
Times and figures are approximate — verify with official sources when planning travel. Simulation uses J2000 mean elements.