Stunning 'Ring Of Fire' Solar Eclipse Viewed Over New York City

Early risers in New York City were treated to stunning views of the 'ring of fire' solar eclipse. Check it out here:

The spectacle was visible in the city for about four minutes shortly after 5am, and was later observed across much of the Northern Hemisphere.

Some Big Apple residents paid $114.81 (£80) to view it from atop the Empire State Building.

Jean-Yves Ghazi, president of the Empire State Building Observatory, told The New York Times: "You could hear the entire audience react at the first viewing of the Sun.

"Everybody was gasping and it was absolutely magical."

The eclipse was caused by the moon passing between the Earth and the Sun.

An annular eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are exactly in line with the Earth, but the apparent size of the Moon is smaller than that of the Sun.

Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

In turn, this causes the Sun to appear as a very bright ring, known as the 'annulus' - or 'ring of fire'.

In the UK and Ireland, however, observers saw a crescent Sun instead of a ring, as it was a partial eclipse.

Speaking beforehand, Dr Emily Drabek-Maunder, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: "The eclipse from the UK will only be visible with certain techniques and optical aids.

"Never look at the Sun directly or use standard sunglasses, it can cause serious harm to your eyes."

Instead, Drabek-Maunder recommended using a pinhole projector, solar eclipse viewing glasses, or special solar filters that fit onto telescopes.

She said: "Hold the card up to the Sun so that light shines through the hole and on to a piece of paper behind the card.

"You will be able to see the shape of the Sun projected on to the piece of paper and watch its shape change as the Moon passes in front of the Sun."

PA

Thanks to our good old friends science and maths, we are able to understand and predict eclipses like this - but one Doomsday preacher in the US was convinced it was a sign of the end of the world.

Pastor Begley presents the cheerfully titled weekly show The Coming Apocalypse and also runs his own YouTube channel where he attempts to make connections between Bible passages and current events.

Citing a passage from Genesis on his channel, Begley read: "And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.'

"So God's saying, 'I'm going to put signs in the heavens.' Some of them are of prophecy."

Topics: US News

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey