15 Mesmerizing High Quality Photos of the Solar Eclipse

From a park near Albuquerque, to the top of Japan’s Mount Fuji, to the California coast the effect was dramatic: the moon centered and covered about 96 percent of the sun creating a blazing “ring of fire” annular eclipse. Millions of people across a narrow strip of eastern Asia and the Western U.S. turned their sights skyward for the annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges.

Did you Miss Sunday’s eclipse? Energized by the celestial show and yearning for more? You’ll have to wait awhile. The continental United States won’t see another good show for five years. And Los Angeles won’t see as stunning as a show for another 59 years.

But here is a sampling of what’s next in store for the solar eclipse front in the United States.

2017: This is the one to travel for. A “total” solar eclipse — an even better one than Sunday’s “ring” eclipse — will completely cover the sun’s light, blotting out even the sun’s outer fringes. Total eclipses are far more exciting because they will shroud the land in an eerie midday twilight. The Aug. 21, 2017, total eclipse will glide through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, northeastern Kansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky, Tennessee, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and South Carolina.

Los Angeles will see more than 60% of the sun’s diameter covered up by the moon.

2023: This is Los Angeles’ next major partial solar eclipse, according to calculations by NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak. It will happen on Oct. 14, 2023, and will cover up 78% of the sun’s diameter.

2071: In Los Angeles, Sept. 23, 2071 will bring a solar eclipse that exceeds Sunday’s show, with 91% of the sun’s diameter covered up.

2121: Alas, this won’t happen in our lifetimes, but on July 14, 2121, Los Angeles will see a full “ring-of-fire” eclipse of its own.

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An annular solar eclipse is seen between ferris whell in the sky over Yokohama near Tokyo Monday May 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Hikers watch an annular eclipse from Papago Park in Phoenix. Photo: AP

An annular eclipse appears Sunday, May 20, 2012, north of Odessa, Texas. Photo: AP

The first annular eclipse seen in the US since 1994 wanes to a partial eclipse as the sun sets in Grand Canyon. Photo: Getty Images

The annular solar eclipse appears between aguaro cactus arms in Phoenix in the US.

Most of Asia this morning bared witness to an annular solar eclipse, one which hasn’t been visible since 1839. In Tokyo, the eclipse occurred around 7:30am.

The view from Kanagawa, Japan.

An annular solar eclipse appears in Fujisawa, near Tokyo, Monday, May 21, 2012. The annular eclipse, in which the moon passes in front of the sun leaving only a golden ring around its edges, was visible to wide areas across China, Japan and elsewhere in the region before moving across the Pacific to be seen in parts of the western United States. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi)

The moon passes between the sun and the earth during a solar eclipse seen from Pasadena. Source: Reuters

A helicopter flies past the solar eclipse near Payson. Source: Reuters

The moon passes between the sun and the earth as viewed through coastal fog rolling in from the ocean in Encinitas, California. Source: Reuters

The moon passes between the sun and the earth behind a windmill near Albuquerque, New Mexico. Source: Reuters

A rare annular eclipse dims the sky, as sun and moon align for “ring of fire” spectacle over the southwestern town Kanarraville, Utah. Source: Reuters