ORLANDO, Fla. – An Annular Solar Eclipse happened this past Saturday and you may have noticed crescent-shaped projections on the ground during the natural phenomenon.
Central Floridians got the chance to see 65% of the sun being blocked by the moon Saturday afternoon. While many had their eyes glued to the sky while wearing protective solar glasses, you may have had a moment to also take a look at the ground and notice flickering, glowing crescents.
As the peak neared, bright, bold crescents showed up on the ground across the area. The crescent shapes are the shadows of the amount of sun being blocked by the moon.
They were mainly observed from shadows made by trees and other things that partially blocked the sunlight. The end result were beautiful, flickering, glowing crescent shapes on the ground.
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During a solar eclipse, the moon moves between the Earth and the sun, blocking out the sun depending on your vantage point. Last Saturday, the moon was farther away from the Earth, hence why it was called an Annular Solar Eclipse, so the moon didn’t completely block out the sun.
If you were lucky enough to catch the sun being blocked by the moon, it created an effect known as the “ring of fire” in the sky for those who were in path.
The interesting crescent patterns on the surface were created by an effect called the pinhole camera effect.
Pinhole cameras operate by letting natural light through a tiny hole in a screen, which acts like a tiny lens.
When partial rays of sunlight from an eclipse shine through the gaps between leaves and trees and hit the ground, it creates the same effect.
This provides an alternate safe way to view the solar eclipse without looking at the sun.
If you missed Saturday’s solar eclipse, that’s OK! You can catch the next one next year, on April 8, 2024.
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