Glimpse of 'ring of fire'

夏至日上演超级日环食

People in quite a few places in China witnessed on Sunday the most anticipated celestial¹ event of the year, an annular² solar eclipse, but if they missed it they will have to wait another 10 years to see the next one.

6月21日，我国多地的民众见证了今年最令人期待的天文事件——日环食，但如果你错过了这次机会，下一次日环食要等上十年。

This spectacular event happened to occur on the heels of the summer solstice, when the northern hemisphere saw its longest day and shortest night of the year.

此次日环食发生的时间正逢夏至节气，在夏至日，北半球迎来一年中白昼最长而夜晚最短的一天。

An annular eclipse is characterized by its stunning³ "ring of fire" since it's not a total eclipse and edges of the sun can still be seen around the moon.

与日全食不同，日环食上演时，没被月球挡住的太阳的边缘部分仍然可见，呈现出一个令人惊艳的“金色指环”。

The phenomenon⁴ occurs when the moon passes between Earth and the sun, but not quite close enough to our planet to completely obscure the sun.

每当月球正好运动到地球和太阳的中间，但月地距离还没有足够近到可以完全挡住太阳时，就会发生日环食天象。

The annular eclipse crossed a path that started at sunrise in Africa and eventually moved across to China before ending at sunset over the Pacific Ocean.

此次日环食从非洲日出时开始，穿越我国境内后，在太平洋日落时结束。