West Africa to see two solar eclipses in 2025

Over South American skies next week, one ring will rule them all.

An annular solar eclipse – known as a “ring of fire” – will be visible on Wednesday, October 2nd, over Easter Island and the tips of Argentina and Chile.

But what is an annular solar eclipse?

Solar eclipses happen when the sun, moon and Earth line up just so. The moon casts a shadow that can partially or totally block the sun’s light.

During an annular eclipse, the moon obscures all but a ring-shaped sliver of the sun. That’s because the moon is at a point in its orbit that’s farther from Earth.

“The moon is just not quite big enough to cover the sun,” explains Dr. Carolyn Sumners, vice president of astronomy at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

This eclipse will occur mostly over water in the Pacific adds Sumners.

"95% of the time this eclipse, an annular eclipse, is going to be over water. So you have to get your boat in the right place. So most people won't see it - just 5% of the time it's over land. But this eclipse actually crosses Easter Island, which is the most remote inhabited place in the whole planet, with the big statues - a marvellous place to visit all by itself. So it makes it an unusual eclipse," says Dr. Sumners.

A partial solar eclipse, when the sun appears as a crescent, can be seen from Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Hawaii.

"It will start before noon on Easter Island and it will be over by 2:50, just before 3:00 o'clock. And at the maximum, the moon will be in front of the sun, moving across the sun for about six minutes, called angularity. And it's not a total eclipse. It's an annular eclipse - you'll need the glasses to protect your eyes - but it is an unusual event made more unusual by the unusual place you get to watch it from," says Dr. Sumners.

The island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is known for its Moai, human-shaped monolithic statues.

Solar eclipses happen about two to five times a year but are only visible from locations that fall under the moon’s narrow shadow.

A total solar eclipse swept across North America in April.

For Dr. Sumners, the magical sight of an eclipse is not the only special thing about the event.

"The most important thing about an eclipse is the experience of it. And you can have that experience any time there is an eclipse, you just have to kind of be an eclipse chaser and it'll take you to wonderful places all over the earth," she says.

"Take family with you, take something special to happen, because you'll be doing this at time you can always calibrate. It's a way to chronicle your life, to use the eclipses and the stories that will be spun and the photographs that will be made associated with each one," Sumners continues.

Although witnessing an eclipse is an exciting and fun event, safety must always come first.

Looking directly at the sun can cause eye damage, even when most of it is covered.

The upcoming annular eclipse is safe to spot wearing solar eclipse glasses, which block out ultraviolet light from the sun and nearly all visible light. Sunglasses or binoculars won’t cut it.

Safe eclipse glasses should say they comply with ISO 12312-2 standards.

"It really is dangerous when we want to see the moon, we want to see that so much, you really have to filter it out. So the only time you don't use some kind of filtration is at totality. Even 95% covered, like what we would see right before totality, it's not really safe. Because that what is there is as bright as it's never been. And if you stare at it, maybe it's a smaller piece of your retina you're fooling with of your eye, but it's still a problem," explains Sumners.

"So you have to wear the glasses, except when the moon completely covers the photosphere of the sun."

As totality is not achieved during an annular eclipse it is advised to wear solar eclipse glasses throughout the event.

If you can’t get your hands on solar eclipse glasses, you can still enjoy the spectacle indirectly.

Dr. Sumners suggests making a pinhole projector using household materials.

"The easiest one for most people to make was to take a cereal box, tall family-size cereal box and let light come in a quarter, say half of the top of the cereal box, that's where you look in, and then the other half would have a pinhole in it and you get an image of the sun at the back, at the inside the box," she says.

After October 2nd's "ring of fire" eclipse, two partial solar eclipses will bring crescent suns to parts of North America, Europe, west Africa and Antarctica next year.

And two 2025 total lunar eclipses will paint the moon red starting March 13.

The next total solar eclipse won’t arrive until 2026 and will pass over the northern fringes of Greenland, Iceland and Spain.