On Saturday, October 14, 2023, and then again on Monday, April 8, 2024, sky gazers all across North America will experience what is arguably the most breathtaking of astronomical phenomena: a solar eclipse. During the October eclipse, everyone in North America will experience a partial eclipse, but if you are lucky enough to be in the 125-mile-wide “path of annularity,” you will see the Moon slowly pass in front of the Sun, until only a “ring of fire” (a ring or annulus of the Sun’s surface) is visible. The eclipse is not total because the Moon is approaching its farthest point from the Earth, so appears too small to cover the entire Sun.