Unlike a total solar eclipse, where the Sun’s disc is completely covered and the corona becomes safely viewable for a brief window, an annular eclipse never reaches totality. The Sun’s photosphere remains exposed throughout the entire event, emitting enough ultraviolet and infrared radiation to cause permanent retinal damage in seconds. Here is your final safety checklist and path map to ensure you witness this eclipse safely and successfully.
EYE PROTECTION — MANDATORY AT ALL TIMES: You must use ISO 12312-2 certified eclipse glasses or a solar filter for telescopes, binoculars, and cameras during every phase of the eclipse, including the annular phase. Regular sunglasses, even very dark ones, do not block enough UV and IR radiation to protect your eyes. Unfiltered viewing — even for a fraction of a second — can burn the retina, causing solar retinopathy, a painless injury that destroys photoreceptor cells and results in permanent blind spots or distorted vision. Symptoms may not appear until hours after exposure, by which time the damage is irreversible. If your eclipse glasses are scratched, torn, or older than three years, discard them and buy new ones from a reputable vendor listed on the American Astronomical Society’s approved supplier list. Counterfeit eclipse glasses exist and offer no protection.
SAFE VIEWING METHODS: Eclipse glasses (ISO 12312-2 certified), solar filters for telescopes and binoculars (must be mounted on the front aperture, never the eyepiece), solar projection (project the Sun’s image through a pinhole or telescope onto a white surface — never look through the instrument), and welder’s glass rated shade 14 (lower shades are insufficient). Cameras, smartphones, and binoculars used without solar filters will concentrate sunlight and cause instant eye damage if you look through them. If you are photographing the eclipse, attach a certified solar filter to your lens before pointing it at the Sun.
PATH OF ANNULARITY MAP: The path is approximately 200 kilometers (125 miles) wide and sweeps from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico. Annularity begins at 9:43 AM PST over the California-Oregon border and ends at 12:38 PM CST over the Gulf. Maximum duration — 4 minutes and 52 seconds — occurs over northern Nevada near Winnemucca at 10:15 AM PST. Cities within the path include: Redding, California; Reno and Elko, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah (partial, northern edge only); Flagstaff and northern Phoenix, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Lubbock, Amarillo, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Galveston, Texas. If you are within 100 kilometers of the centerline, you will see the full Ring of Fire. Outside the path, you will see a partial eclipse with varying coverage percentages: Los Angeles 85%, Denver 78%, Dallas 92%, Houston 88%, Miami 45%, New York 22%.
TIMING: Check timeanddate for precise local eclipse times. The event unfolds in four phases: First contact (Moon begins crossing the Sun’s edge), annularity begins (Ring of Fire appears), maximum annularity (midpoint of the ring phase), annularity ends (ring breaks), and fourth contact (Moon fully leaves the Sun’s disc). The entire sequence lasts approximately 2.5 to 3 hours from first to fourth contact, but the annular phase itself lasts only 3 to 5 minutes depending on your location along the path.
WEATHER AND POSITIONING: As of February 10, weather forecasts suggest clear skies across most of the Southwest, with some cloud risk in coastal California and potential morning fog in Texas. Have a backup location ready if clouds threaten your primary viewing site. Position yourself with an unobstructed view of the southern to southwestern sky (depending on local time). Sunrise observers in California will see the eclipse low in the east; mid-morning observers in Texas will see it higher in the south-southeast. Avoid tall buildings, trees, or hills that block the horizon.
WHAT TO EXPECT: As the Moon slides across the Sun, the landscape will dim to an eerie twilight even though the sky remains blue. Shadows will sharpen and take on unusual crescent shapes as the Sun’s disc narrows into a ring. Temperature will drop 5-10°F (3-6°C). Birds may roost or fall silent. If you are observing from a dark-sky site, you may see Venus and Jupiter become visible during maximum annularity. The quality of light will feel wrong — not the warm glow of sunset, but a cold, flat, metallic dimness that triggers primal unease. And then, at maximum annularity, the Sun will transform into a perfect ring of fire suspended in the sky, impossibly bright, impossibly thin, impossibly strange.
DO NOT: Remove your eclipse glasses during annularity. Do not look at the Sun through an unfiltered camera, telescope, or binoculars. Do not assume “just a quick glance” is safe. Do not use eclipse glasses while driving. Do not rely on clouds to dim the Sun enough for safe viewing — UV radiation penetrates clouds.
The next annular eclipse visible from the United States will not occur until June 21, 2039 — 13 years from now. If you are in the path on February 17, 2026, and you follow these safety rules, you will witness one of the rarest and most visually stunning events the sky can offer. If you ignore them, you will damage your eyes permanently and remember the eclipse only as the day you traded your vision for a few seconds of curiosity.
The Ring of Fire does not forgive carelessness. Are your eclipse glasses ready?
