Solar Eclipse 2012: How 'Ring Of Fire' Observers Can Protect Their Eyes

ECLIPSE SAFETY ALERT: Protecting Your Eyes While Viewing 'Ring Of Fire'

For those in the right place at the right time, Sunday's solar eclipse will appear as a stunning "ring of fire." The ring will appear in the sky as the moon passes between the Earth and the sun—creating a halo effect by covering up to 94 percent of the star.

But experts caution against looking at the eclipse with unprotected eyes.

"The ring of sunlight during annularity is blindingly bright," Fred Espenak, an eclipse expert at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a written statement. "Even though most of the sun's disk will be covered, you still need to use a solar filter or some type of projection technique [to watch the eclipse]. A No. 14 welder's glass is a good choice. There are also many commercially available solar filters."

The eclipse will be visible across the Pacific, from southeast Asia to the western U.S. It will begin around 5:30 p.m. PDT, and the ring of fire is expected to last about four and a half minutes.

If you catch a glimpse of this fiery phenomenon, be sure to tweet us your photos at @HuffPostScience, hashtag #solareclipse, or you can email us at science@huffingtonpost.com. We'll be collecting user photos from all over, and yours may be featured!

Check out these stellar photos of the total solar eclipse that occurred in July 2009:

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