Thousands gather to see annular eclipse

Bulgarian children look at the annular eclipse of the sun through a telescope in the Black Sea port of Varna yesterday. In an annular eclipse the moon moves between the sun and earth but due to a tiny difference in distance for celestial mechanics, it does not completely cover the solar face as it happens in a total eclipse. PHOTO: AFP

In Madrid, entire families and groups of enthusiasts met at the city's planetarium beneath a cloudless sky to watch the eclipse directly or on a giant television screen. The event began with the moon taking a bite off the top of the sun.

During an annular eclipse, the moon masks the sun like a black plate, leaving a bright, fiery rim. The moon was too small to blot out the sun completely, as in a total eclipse, because its elliptical orbit has taken it too far from the earth.

However, the moon dims the daylight and drops temperatures slightly.

The rim of fire that appears around the moon glows brighter than the corona that is seen during a total eclipse.

"It's quite spectacular," said Dr. Stephen Maran, an astronomer with the American Astrological Society in Washington D.C.