the RING of FIRE is a jewel you CANNOT wear

Tonight is the annular solar eclipse where the moon blocks most of the Sun.

According to NASA, the eclipse will begin at sunrise local time in southern China, then pass over Hong Kong, Taipei and Tokyo. After entering California's view, the moon's shadow will block the sun's light along a course from Reno to the Grand Canyon in Arizona to Albuquerque to Lubbock, Texas. The full "ring of fire" effect is visible in ONLY eight states in the western United States this evening.

The RING OF FIRE is when all of the moon covers most of the Sun....leaving a ring of sunlight blazing around the moons circumference. The moon is near apogee--the farthest point from Earth in its orbit around our planet--so it's too small in the sky to cover the sun's face completely.

We set out to catch this AWESOME celestial event aka the annular solar eclipse.
We were fortunate to witness this AMAZING event at the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum.

The photo above is a view of the eclipse in the display of a video camera with a special eclipse viewing lens filter attachment on the front. 

Can you see the beginning stages of the eclipse???

(I debated whether to include this photo in the blog....)

Can you see the moon is on the way to completing the RING OF FIRE....

(the reflection of the eclipse on a sheet of paper is cast from the binocular lens)

(BTW: you should NEVER fully view a solar eclipse with the naked eye....you must use proper viewing tools like a #14 welding shield or special eclipse viewing glasses)

Tah Dah......THE RING OF FIRE

We witnessed the RING OF FIRE 

---via the reflection

---via #14 welding mask

---via the special eclipse viewing glasses

The RING OF FIRE lasted only 4 minutes...... and it was well worth every second!

But the rest of the eclipse lasted until sundown.

Inside the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum they had LIVE broadcasted coverage of the eclipse on various LCD screens inside and outside the museum.

I clicked this photo by accident on my little old camera with no filter........ 

Let hope I didn't ruin my camera.

(Although I might add.....it is a rather stunning photo)

 This is the viewing balcony where we watched the eclipse.
After sunset we took in the museum and went out to the museum lawn where they had tons of activities like a rock climbing wall, jumpy house for the kids, crafting stations, face painting, food trucks and an outdoor SCI-FI movie.
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Persingerfive +plus+ Eclipse
equal = Persingerfun