Hinode Captures 'Ring of Fire' during Spectacular Solar Eclipse

On Thursday, Oct. 23, the moon passed between the Earth and the sun, causing a solar eclipse. Now, scientists have released an image of a "ring of fire" that captures this particular eclipse at its most stunning.

In fact, the Hinode spacecraft was in the right place to catch the solar eclipse as an annular eclipse, which gives the "ring of fire" effect. An annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes directly in front of the sun but doesn't cover it completely because the moon appears too small.

"This is only the second annular eclipse Hinode has witnessed since it launched in 2006," said Patric McCauley, one of the researchers, in a news release.

You can actually view a movie of the eclipse as observed by Hinode's X-ray Telescope (XRT) online. The XRT collects X-rays emitted from the sun's corona, which is the hot, tenuous outer layer that extends from the sun's visible surface into the inner solar system. Gas in the corona reaches temperatures of millions of degrees.

Currently, the researchers hope to continue monitoring the sun now and into the future.

"We are very interested in studying solar flares," said McCauley. "Flares are most dramatic in X-rays and we're using the X-ray Telescope to better understand the physical mechanisms that drive flares so that they might someday be forecasted."