Here’s why ‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipses will become extremely common in future

In the foreseeable future, all solar eclipses are poised to take on the appearance of ‘rings of fire.’ According to a report by Space.com, there will come a time when experiencing a total solar eclipse will become an impossibility because the moon, when observed from Earth, will be too small in apparent angular size to completely obscure the sun’s disk.

A similar solar eclipse is anticipated to occur this upcoming weekend, specifically on Saturday, October 14. During this event, billions of people will have the opportunity to witness an annular eclipse, characterized by a ring of sunlight encircling the moon’s image at the midpoint of the spectacle. However, the eclipse will only be partially visible in the United States. Cities such as Eugene, Winnemucca, NV, Albuquerque, San Antonio, and Corpus Christi will witness this captivating “ring of fire” effect.

It’s important to note that during this eclipse, the sky will not darken entirely, and the sun will not be completely obscured. This is because the moon will be positioned 4.5 days past apogee, its farthest point from Earth. At this juncture, the new moon eclipse will be situated at a distance of 246,707 km from Earth. Consequently, the tip of the moon’s dark umbral shadow cone will fall short of making contact with Earth by nearly 12,000 miles, rendering the moon too small to cover the sun adequately.

The moon follows an elliptical orbit around Earth, with its closest proximity to Earth at 356,371 km and its farthest distance at 406,702 km. The mean distance separating Earth and the moon is 384,748 km.

However, for a total solar eclipse to occur, the dark shadow cone of the moon must intersect the Earth’s surface. This necessitates the tip of the shadow cone to have an average width of approximately 130 km. Within this width, a total eclipse unfolds, wherein the moon’s dark side entirely obscures the sun’s disk.

Yet, the moon’s shadow cone, on average, spans a length of 378,000 km, which is less than the moon’s mean distance from Earth.

This phenomenon occurs because when a new moon comes directly between Earth and the sun, the sun is situated farther away than 378,000 km, causing the umbral shadow to fail to reach Earth’s surface.