• Photo right: Velo Steve on Flickr
• An annular eclipse of the sun - what some are calling a ring of fire eclipse - will take place over Australia and the Pacific Ocean on May 9 or 10, 2013 (the difference in date depends on whether you are east or west of the International Date Line). However, to see it, you have to re

side somewhere along the long yet narrow track that is 13,300 kilometers long and only about 200 kilometers wide. Outside the extremely narrow path of the ring of fire eclipse, a much larger area of the world will get to see a partial eclipse of the sun. We provide a detailed worldwide map of the May 9-10 eclipse below. Places to the east of the International Date Line (such as the Hawaiian and Cook Islands) will see this solar eclipse on May 9. Places to the west of the International Date Line (Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand) will find the sun in eclipse on May 10.
• Why do they call it a ring of fire eclipse?
• Why watch the partial eclipse?
• Worldwide map of May 9-10 solar eclipse
• Path of May 9-10 solar eclipse
• Local times of the eclipse for places east of International Date Line
• Why do they call it a ring of fire eclipse? A solar eclipse happens whenever the new moon passes either partially or totally in front of the sun. This time, the moon does pass directly in front of the sun. But the moon is too far away in its orbit to cover the sun completely; lunar apogee, when the moon is farthest for this month, comes on May 13 at 14 UTC. So the May 9-10 eclipse isn't a total solar eclipse. The sun's disk will not be totally covered over by the moon. Instead, at mid-eclipse, the fiery outer surface of the sun will appear in a ring around the moon in silhouette. Since the moon will only partly block the sun - even at greatest eclipse - it's essential to use proper eye protection. Otherwise, you risk blindness or permanent eye damage.

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