Tomorrow's annular eclipse to be live broadcasted online

Tomorrow evening, an annular eclipse is scheduled to happen in remote areas of the world most of us are not located in, a problem that is of no worry thanks to modern technology. For those who wish to watch the event, an Australia-based telescope will broadcast the eclipse from start to finish, allowing anyone to watch it from anywhere in the world.

While most people are familiar with total solar eclipses, an annular eclipse is less well known, involving the moon's position over the sun in such a way that it will briefly look like a bright-glowing ring – like the One Ring is glowing bright way up yonder. Such an effect is the result of the moon's distance, with it being far enough away from our planet that it appears smaller in diameter than the sun, causing the ring effect.

If such a prospect excites you and you won't happen to be located in the remote Pacific tomorrow, you can watch it from your preferred device here tomorrow starting at 5:30PM Eastern Time. If you're in Western Australia, Queensland, or the Northern Territories, on May 10 at 6:32AM, the moon's shadow will begin passing over, eventually tracking to Cape York Peninsula at 8:44AM, then to the eastern side of Papua New Guinea, eventually to the Solomon Islands by 10:15AM (all local times).

Said Williams College Field Memorial professor Jay Pasachoff: "It is always astonishing to see the moon apparently cut bites out of the sun. And it is a wonder of modern science and mathematics that you can travel halfway around the world, arriving on a normal day with blue sky, but then, on schedule, the lunar silhouette breaks up the sunlight."

[via National Geographic]