LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, totally or partially covering the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the Sun, causing the Sun to look like an annulus, or ring, which blocks most of the Sun's light. An annular eclipse is also known as Ring of Fire.

This year's annular phase was visible from the Chinese coast, northern Taiwan, the south of Japan, and the western part of the United States. Guangzhou, Taipei, Tokyo and Albuquerque were on the central path.

The full effect of the eclipse occurred in part of the North Pacific, south of the Aleutian Islands for 5 minutes and 46 seconds and finished in the western United States.

The eclipse was visible in Tokyo - where numerous people took pictures with camera phones and other devices, before sweeping west and intersecting the West Coast a little after 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Scores of people could watch the eclipse over dinner, with the full "ring of fire" effect viewable in a path connecting California with Nevada.

Although the eclipse was only safely "viewable" with welder's glasses (or else a pinhole punched into a cardboard) that didn't stop the normally soft afternoon light from being changed into something harsher as the moon blocked the sun.

If you missed it - you don't have that long a wait. On October 23, 2014, a partial solar eclipse will strike Russia and the Western United States, including California. The center of the eclipse will pass "above" the North Pole, meaning that there won't be totality anywhere on the planet, according to Wikipedia.

The next solar eclipse won't be until August 21, 2017, however, a total solar eclipse will sweep through the United States, intersecting Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

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