Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and more.

CNN
—

A solar eclipse will create a “ring of fire” in the sky over parts of South America on Wednesday, according to NASA.

Annular solar eclipses occur when the moon passes between the Earth and the sun when the moon is close to or at the furthest point in its orbit from the Earth, so it cannot completely block the sun as it does during a total solar eclipse. Instead, the sun’s fiery light surrounds the moon’s shadow, creating the so-called ring of fire.

The path of Wednesday’s annular solar eclipse will follow the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and Antarctica, but those in the remote southeastern Pacific region of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, and parts of Argentina and Chile should be able to see the Eclipse’s ring . fire phenomenon when the sky is clear.

Meanwhile, a crescentic partial solar eclipse will be visible in Hawaii, American Samoa, Brazil, Fiji, French Polynesia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Pitcairn Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Uruguay, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and many other locations. To see if the partial solar eclipse will be visible in your region, check the Time and Date website.

If you are in the path of the partial or annular solar eclipse and plan to observe a celestial spectacle, make sure you have certified eclipse glasses or portable solar binoculars with you. The sun’s harmful rays will never completely disappear from view, and watching these events can damage your eyes if you look directly at the sun.

The annular eclipse is timed and dated to begin at 12:50 PM ET and end at 4:39 PM ET.

The trail starts about 1,056 miles (1,700 kilometers) southwest of Hawaii and then heads southwest, according to EarthSky. The eclipse is expected to reach its peak, meaning the eclipse of the Sun by the Moon’s shadow will be at its greatest. at 2:45 PM ET over the ocean for just over 7 minutes.

But the eclipse will still provide a spectacle for land-based skygazers. The annular solar eclipse will be visible over land for the first time on the remote island of Rapa Nui, famous for the hundreds of head-shaped statues dotted around the island, at 3:07 PM ET, and the ring of fire will last for 6 minutes and 23 seconds, according to EarthSky.

Next, the eclipse will reach the Patagonian coast of Chile at 4:22 PM ET before appearing in the Andes and becoming visible a few minutes later in Argentina, and then in the South Atlantic coast at 4:27 PM ET.

Finally, a partial solar eclipse will be visible north of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia at 4:36 PM ET.

It is never safe to look directly at the sun without using special protection. Thus, there is no phase of an annular solar eclipse that can be safely viewed with the naked eye because the sunlight is never completely blocked.

If you do not have certified eclipse glasses or are not using a portable solar viewer to observe the annular solar eclipse, you can use a telescope, binoculars or camera with a special solar filter on the front, which works in the same way as eclipse glasses. But don’t look through an optical device — camera lens, telescope, binoculars — while wearing eclipse glasses or using portable solar binoculars, according to NASA. The sun’s rays can still burn through the filter of glasses or binoculars, given how concentrated they can be through an optical device, and can cause serious eye damage.

Sunglasses will not work as a substitute for eclipse glasses or solar binoculars, which are thousands of times darker and meet an international standard. Do not use cracked, scratched or damaged eclipse glasses or solar binoculars.

Eclipses can also be viewed indirectly using a pinhole projector, such as a hole in an index card. These DIY binoculars work if you stand with your back to the sun and hold the card up. The hole projects an image of the sun onto the ground or other surfaces. But never look at the sun and look directly at it through the hole.

Other pinhole projectors you may already have on hand include colanders, straw hats, or anything else with small holes in them. Or you can simply hold your hands up, spread your fingers and cross them over each other to create a waffle pattern. The small space between them reflects the Sun’s crescent during a partial solar eclipse or a ring during the annular solar eclipse.

Standing by a leafy tree? The small spaces between the leaves will stain patterns of the eclipse phase on the ground.

If you’re sitting outside for a while waiting for the solar eclipse, don’t forget to apply sunscreen and wear a hat to protect your skin.

The next full moon event, the Hunter’s Moon taking place on October 17, will be a supermoon and the closest of the year at 357,428 kilometers away.

The Beaver Moon will occur on November 15th and the last full moon of the year will be the Cold Moon on December 15th.

In the meantime, skygazers can anticipate a busy meteor shower season that will conclude 2024. Here are peak dates for upcoming sky activity, according to the American Meteor Society:

Draconids: October 7-8

Orionids: October 20-21

Southern Taurids: November 4-5

Northern Taurids: November 11-12

Leonids: November 17-18

Geminids: December 13-14

Ursids: December 21-22