Tonight, China and the Western United States will be able to see an annular eclipse, the first of its kind since 1994. An annular eclipse is when the moon lines up between Earth and the Sun to create what looks like a ring of fire. It looks awesome. Of course, not all of us live in China or the West Coast, that's why we'll watch it online.
According to National Geographic, the eclipse will last for just over four minutes, so you'll have to be on the lookout for when the Sun turns to a ring of fire. The annular eclipse starts in China and then crosses the Pacific Ocean and will start to hit America in the late West Coast afternoon. According to National Geographic:
The eclipse makes landfall again in North America in the late afternoon of May 20, starting at the California-Oregon border at 6:26 p.m. PT (9:26pm ET).
The annular eclipse then crosses southern Nevada, southern Utah, the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, the lower-left corner of Colorado, and most of New Mexico before ending in the area of Lubbock, Texas, around sunset at 8:36 p.m. CT (9:36 ET).
For those people who don't live in the western United States though, it's okay! You can watch the annular eclipse at the SLOOH Space Camera, which will stream telescopes along the annular path in Japan, California, Arizona and New Mexico starting at 5:30PM ET. Because you're watching online, you don't have to worry about damaging your eyes by staring at the Sun. For those planning to watch the eclipse in person though, be very careful and follow io9's tips on how to do so safely.
So yes, if you want to watch the annular eclipse: go to the SLOOH Space Camera. [io9, National Geographic]
Feel free to send your pictures of the ring of fire eclipse to me here. We'd love to see what you're looking at!