Millennium Annular Solar Eclipse

Explanation: The Moon's shadow raced across planet Earth on January 15 . Observers within the central shadow track were able to witness an annular solar eclipse as the Moon's apparent size was too small to completely cover the Sun. A visually dramatic ring of fire , the annular phase lasted up to 11 minutes and 8 seconds depending on location, the longest annular solar eclipse for the next 1,000 years . This picture of the Moon's silhouette just before mid-eclipse was taken within the eclipse path from the city of Kanyakumari at the southern tip of India . The telescopic image was made through a filter that blocks most visible light, but still transmits light from hydrogen atoms . As a result, detailed mottling, or granulation, caused by heat convection in the Sun's atmosphere can be seen around the dark lunar disk.