{"id":277344,"date":"2026-02-10T19:07:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/277344\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T19:07:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T19:07:12","slug":"1-week-until-an-annular-solar-eclipse-turns-the-sun-into-a-ring-of-fire-over-antarctica-on-feb-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/277344\/","title":{"rendered":"1 week until an annular solar eclipse turns the sun into a ‘ring of fire’ over Antarctica on Feb. 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re just one week away from the first solar eclipse of 2026! Here’s what you need to know before a dramatic “ring of fire” annular eclipse<\/a> darkens the sky over Antarctica on Feb. 17, likely confusing millions of penguins.<\/p>\n

The eerie dimming is possible thanks to an extraordinary bit of celestial geometry. Earth’s moon is 400 times smaller than the sun<\/a>, which happens to be, on average, 400 times farther from our planet than its natural satellite \u2014 a wondrous cosmic coincidence that causes both celestial objects to appear the same size in our sky.<\/p>\n

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This allows us to see breathtaking solar eclipses<\/a> when the lunar disk passes directly in front of the sun during its new moon<\/a> phase, blocking its light. Some eclipses occur when the moon<\/a> is further from Earth<\/a> in its elliptical orbit, setting the stage for a spectacular annular solar eclipse. During these events, the smaller lunar disk passes in front of the sun, occulting most of its surface, while leaving a sliver of its outer rim on show.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

When is the next solar eclipse?<\/p>\n

Feb. 17 will see a spectacular annular solar eclipse unfold over a swathe of Antarctica, as the moon glides between the sun and Earth, occulting the vast majority of our parent star while leaving its outer rim visible to form a burning halo in the southern sky.<\/p>\n

The period of maximum eclipse \u2014 an event known as annularity \u2014 is set to begin at 7:12 a.m. EST (1212 GMT) and will last for 1 minute and 52 seconds, after which the moon’s silhouette will slide inexorably off the solar disk.<\/p>\n

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The path of the annular solar eclipse on Feb. 17, 2026. (Image credit: Michael Zeiler\/EclipseAtlas.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Sadly, the full ring of fire will only be witnessed by the few human beings inhabiting research stations in the path of annularity, along with the millions of penguins who call the frozen continent home. Skywatchers in the southern extreme of South America, southeastern Africa and in parts of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean will also bear witness to a lesser\u2014 yet still breathtaking \u2014 partial solar eclipse, during which the lunar disk will be seen to take a “bite” out of the sun.<\/p>\n

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Today’s best solar eclipse viewing glasses deals<\/p>\n

Remember, it’s never safe to stare at the sun with the naked eye, even for a second, as doing so risks immediate and permanent damage to your eyes. To observe the sun<\/a> safely, you’ll need a pair of eclipse glasses designed to block out the lion’s share of the harmful ultraviolet and infrared solar radiation, or \u2014 for a closer look \u2014 a pair of dedicated solar binoculars, like the Lunt SUNoculars<\/a> and Celestron Eclipsmart<\/a>. And with the upcoming total solar eclipse coming on Aug. 12<\/a>, it’s never too early to get all your solar viewing equipment ready!<\/p>\n

Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: If you capture a photo of the Feb. 17 solar eclipse and want to share it with Space.com’s readers, then please send your photo(s), comments, and your name and location to spacephotos@space.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We’re just one week away from the first solar eclipse of 2026! Here’s what you need to know…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-277344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}