Where to photograph this week’s ‘ring of fire’ annular solar eclipse in America

The ‘ring of fire’ is an annular (ring) solar eclipse. It occurs because the moon’s orbit of the Earth is elliptical, so its apparent size in our sky waxes and wanes throughout the month. Normally, this goes completely unnoticed. Even during a ‘supermoon’, when the moon is at its largest apparent size (something called perigee) it's a difficult thing to see. However, the apparent size of the moon becomes most noticeable during a solar eclipse. A total solar eclipse occurs when a perigee moon crosses the sun, while an annular solar eclipse is when an apogee moon—the furthest it can be from Earth—crosses only the central part of the sun. On October 14, 2023, up to 91% of the center of the sun’s disc will be covered by the moon to cause a ‘ring of fire’—in effect a pretty kind of partial solar eclipse. 

Get ready with a pair of the best solar eclipse binoculars

Update 19 Sep 2023: It was announced on September 15, 2023 that Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park and other parts of the Navajo Nation will be closed for a minimum of five hours (8 a.m. to 1 p.m.) on Oct. 14, during the annular eclipse, for eclipse observance by staff. This will also apply to the Four Corners Monument Navajo Tribal Park and to the management office at the Tséyi’ Diné Heritage Area-Cottonwood Campground (TDHA-CC) within Canyon de Chelly National Monument.

Although all of the Americas will enjoy a partial solar eclipse lasting about two-and-a-half hours, you need to be within the 125 miles wide path of annularity to photograph the ‘ring of fire’. Chronologically, it begins in the morning in Oregon on the US West Coast, before moving southeast across California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Texas before it exits the US in the late morning. 

The attraction of this vast area, of course, is its mess of national parks, state parks, and other spectacular locations for landscape photography. Iconic landscapes of the American West that the ‘ring of fire’ will be visible from include some of Utah’s most famous national parks, the iconic mittens of Monument Valley (see above), and the red rocks of the Four Corners region – not to mention some of the geological treasures of Oregon. As a bonus, many of them are International Dark Sky Parks, so prime locations for wide-field astrophotography. 

After it departs the US, the ‘ring of fire’ will be visible from the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, (where, at 5 minutes 17 seconds, the maximum duration of the ‘ring of fire’ will occur) Panama, Colombia and Brazil. 

Outside of that path, a number of big cities will enjoy huge a partial solar eclipse, including Denver at 78%, Las Vegas 82%, Dallas 80% and Salt Lake City 86%. New York City will see a 23% eclipse. 

While an annular solar eclipse is less of a photographic occasion than the upcoming 2024 total solar eclipse (one of which will cross North America on April 8, 2024), the path of annularity this time is a gift to landscape photographers. The fact that you have to use a solar filter to photograph any partial solar eclipse (which, essentially, is what an annular eclipse is) makes it difficult to capture the event in the context of its environment. However, as an excuse for a landscape and astrophotography road trip with a bonus close-up of a ‘ring of fire’, it doesn't get much better than this.

Note that the closer you are to the centreline of the path, the longer the ‘ring of fire’ will last. However, celestial mechanics means that it varies from a maximum of 4 minutes 29 seconds at the Oregon coast to 4 minutes and 52 seconds as it leaves Texas. You should notice a drop in light levels when the sun is around 50% blocked by the sun. 

It may not be strictly necessary for you to be somewhere iconic for the eclipse itself, but what better excuse to be in some of the best landscape photography locations in the US? Here are just a few highlights from a path of annularity that is stuffed with tempting places to go hang out with your camera: 

Best places for dark night skies

Much of the path through the US Southwest is over sparsely populated land and at high elevation, so finding a Dark Sky Place won’t be a problem. It also helps that solar eclipses always take place at New Moon, when night skies are their very darkest. 

There are some major factors in choosing where to be to photograph any solar eclipse. Here’s what you need to think about: