Image of the Week: Solar Eclipse Dazzles

This past Sunday, observers in and parts of Southeast Asia and North America witnessed an annular solar eclipse--an arrangement in which the moon shades out most but not all of the sun, leaving a bright ring around the dark lunar form. Although Earth-bound viewers couldn't look at the eclipse directly with naked eyes, the Hinode spacecraft snapped some dazzling shots, including the one below. Hinode, a joint venture between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), is cruising in low-Earth orbit to help scientists study the sun's magnetic field and energy releases.

A picture of the annular solar eclipse on May 20, 2012, captured by the Hinode spacecraft.
Image Courtesy: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

To see more images of the eclipse and the wild shadows it created, visit the 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse Group on Flickr.

Then tell us: did you witness the eclipse? Where were you, and how did you view it?