Annular solar eclipse turns the sun into a dramatic ‘ring of fire’ today! Here’s what you need to know

Today (Feb. 17), an annular solar eclipse will commence its journey across a remote region of Antarctica where it will be visible to more penguins than people. The partial solar eclipse portion of the event will be visible to observers in parts of southern Africa and the southern tip of South America.

You can keep up with the latest eclipse news with our annular solar eclipse live blog, which will be updated throughout the event.

The annular phase of the eclipse, whereby the largest proportion of the sun is covered, occurs at 7:12 a.m. EST (1212 GMT).

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During a solar eclipse, the moon passes between the sun and Earth, casting a lunar shadow upon our planet. The moon’s orbit around Earth is slightly elliptical; sometimes it’s farther from Earth, sometimes it’s closer. During an annular solar eclipse, the moon is relatively far from Earth and does not fully cover the sun’s disk as we see during a total solar eclipse. Instead, it produces a distinct ring of light in the sky, the “ring of fire”.

The path of the annular solar eclipse on Feb. 17, 2026. (Image credit: Michael Zeiler/EclipseAtlas.com)When can we next see a solar eclipse?

The next solar eclipse visible to more people than penguins will be a total solar eclipse on Aug. 12, 2026.

The total solar eclipse will be visible in Greenland, western Iceland, and northern Spain, bringing a maximum of 2 minutes and 18 seconds of totality, the day before the peak of the annual Perseid meteor shower.

If you’re looking for some inspiration for planning an eclipse 2026 trip, check out our roundup of the best cruises for the total solar eclipse 2026 and the 16 best places to view the total solar eclipse 2026.

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(Image credit: Created using MapHub.net. Source: Esri, Maxar, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community)(Image credit: Created using MapHub.net. Source: Esri, Maxar, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community)(Image credit: Created using MapHub.net. Source: Esri, Maxar, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community)(Image credit: Created using MapHub.net. Source: Esri, Maxar, GeoEye, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, USDA, USGS, AeroGRID, IGN, and the GIS User Community)