SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The residents of San Angelo joined people around the world as they watched the annular eclipse make its way across the sky on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Viewing parties were held all throughout the city, with several San Angelo organizations, such as Angelo State University and the Tom Green County library system, opening their locations for onlookers to gather together and watch the eclipse unfold.

“When we knew that the annular eclipse was passing over San Angelo, we knew we had to do something big for the community,” Kenneth Carrell, associate professor and director of ASU’s planetarium, said. “This has been several months in the making, and lots of people’s work has gone into this.”

Telescopes, viewing windows, eclipse glasses and more were pointed toward the sun as the moon made its way across the sun’s face, visibly darkening the entirety of San Angelo and the surrounding parts of Texas.

The eclipse began at around 10:20 a.m. and lasted until around 1:25 p.m., with the full annularity — known also as the “ring of fire” — occurring sometime near 11:45 a.m.

Though the annular eclipse has come and gone, we won’t have to wait too long for the next eclipse. A total solar eclipse is projected to happen on April 8, 2024, and it is predicted to intersect with the path of this year’s annular eclipse directly above Texas.

Texas was lucky enough to see this year’s annular eclipse, but lightning will be striking twice when the total eclipse passes over in April 2024. Image courtesy of NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio and the NASA Heliophysics Activation Team.

“We’re not going to be quite in totality, we’ll be a little bit off,” Amy Dennis, children’s librarian and youth services coordinator at the Stephens Central Library, said. “The next eclipse is coming down from the East Coast, so the trajectory will be quite a bit different. We’ll still be able to see a little bit of it, though, and we’ll have glasses here in April for you.”

Both Carrell and Dennis have expressed through interviews that their respective organizations have intentions of hosting viewing events for the total eclipse, just like how the annular eclipse events have unfolded.

The moon completely blocks the face of the sun during a total solar eclipse, making the sky appear as though it were dawn or dusk. For more information about 2024’s total solar eclipse, visit NASA’s webpage concerning it.

  • Image courtesy of Tiffney Rodriguez.
  • Image courtesy of Tiffney Rodriguez.