Parts of North America, Europe, and Africa got a glimpse at a rather historical event on Sunday, as these regions experienced a rare solar eclipse. Described as a “ring of fire” in the sky, this hybrid type of solar eclipse is one of the rarest that has been experienced on the planet. Coinciding with the sunrise, the eclipse extended for 8,345 miles across Earth. For those that were unable to see the eclipse in person, space.com streamed a video of it happening live for everyone with an internet connection to see.

The Rare Eclipse

During the last century, only about 5% of all the solar eclipses were considered to be a hybrid eclipse. Generally, the earth experiences a total solar eclipse as the moon completely blocks out the sun. However, over the weekend, earth saw as the moon blocked out only part of the sun. On Sunday, it was experienced as the eclipse begins as an annular eclipse and then transitions to a total eclipse. It remained in the total fashion until the end of the path. The last time an eclipse occurred in this fashion was in 1854. The next expected time it will occur based on the trajectory of the moon and sun will not be until 2172.

The Path

Only a piece of North America will actually be able to see the eclipse, that being on the east coast. Unfortunately, the rest of the continent will not experience it at all and can only watch the live web stream of it happening. The further east you went, the more visible and powerful the eclipse became. For instance, Pittsburgh saw the eclipse last for about 29 minutes, while Europe was dark for quite a bit longer. The Eastern seaboard had nearly forgotten about solar eclipses up until Sunday.

The last time that New England had experienced an eclipse was way back in the year 2000. That eclipse actually occurred on Christmas Day. Sunrise in Boston saw only half of the sun visible as a result of the hybrid eclipse. In Puerto Rico and other parts of the Caribbean, nearly 70% of the sun will be blocked out at sunrise.

Viewing the Eclipse

While looking at the sun, even during an eclipse can be damaging to the human eyes, the eclipse was viewed by people in these areas using easy to make devices such as pinhole. By poking a small hole in a piece of paper and holding a second card behind it, the image projected itself and becomes visible.

Pictures and video spread like wildfire across the web after it ended on Sunday and the world was able to take marvel at the power of nature and the world. With such an occurrence only happening once in a lifetime, for those that were able to witness it, it was quite the sight to take in. While other types of eclipses are also awe-inspiring, it was a privilege to witness this hybrid eclipse occurrence that no one alive today will ever see again.