Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta: annular eclipse (October 14, 2023)

  During an annular eclipse, the Moon is centered in front of the Sun but doesn’t completely obscure it, instead leaving a ring of sunlight visible around the Moon’s edges. This circle of light is called an annulus, or sometimes a “ring of fire.” Annular solar eclipses happen only when the Moon is at the furthest point from Earth in its orbit, making the Moon appear smaller than usual from the Earth’s perspective.

Meanwhile, back in Austin....Tom sent us this photo of the sidewalk in front of our house. More spectacular than our Albuquerque experience, even though we were in the direct path of the eclipse. (shrug emoji)

If you didn't know an eclipse was happening, I think you'd miss it. The sky hardly changed.

The balloonists created their own ring of fire.

Phone or eclipse? 

The sky never got dark, only overcast. 

Wearing our stylin' eclipse glasses, courtesy of NASA. Staff handed them out as we entered the park.

You could also watch it on the big screen TV. But why, when you can see the real thing???