Solar Eclipse Crosses Down Under

SYDNEY (May 9, 2013)--Skygazers across the Australian Outback were watching as the moon glided between the Earth and the sun, blocking everything but a dazzling ring of light in a solar eclipse.

The "ring of fire" eclipse Thursday (Friday there) was the second solar eclipse visible from northern Australia in six months.


Friday's eclipse was not considered nearly as scientifically important as November's because the moon is too far from Earth to completely black out the sun.

The eclipse began casting its 120-mile-wide shadow at dawn Friday over Western Australia, before moving east through the Northern Territory and the top of Queensland state.
