Many northern Nevadans tilted their heads skyward Saturday morning to catch a glimpse of a rare annular eclipse.
The eclipse was visible to some degree across the entirety of the U.S., and the Reno/Sparks area was close enough to the path of annularity that people got to witness quite a show.
Watch parties were held around the area on Saturday, including at Code Ninjas on South Virginia Street, The Discovery Museum on Center Street and the Fleishmann Planetarium on the University of Nevada campus.
"So the moon's shadow is falling over Nevada right now and we are close enough to the center line that we are able to see a spectacular show from our spot right here at the planetarium," said Paul McFarlane, Director of the Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center.
An annular eclipse happens when the moon passes in front of the sun, but the orbital dynamics between the earth, moon and sun are such that the disc of the moon covers a smaller area than the disc of the sun, leaving an external ring of sunlight visible, the so called "ring of fire."
The next annular solar eclipse is expected to happen in the year 2046.
