annular eclipse
 日環食


 An·nu·lar a.
 1. Pertaining to, or having the form of, a ring; forming a ring; ringed; ring-shaped; as, annular fibers.
 2. Banded or marked with circles.
 Annular eclipse Astron., an eclipse of the sun in which the moon at the middle of the eclipse conceals the central part of the sun's disk, leaving a complete ring of light around the border.

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 E·clipse n.
 1. Astron. An interception or obscuration of the light of the sun, moon, or other luminous body, by the intervention of some other body, either between it and the eye, or between the luminous body and that illuminated by it. A lunar eclipse is caused by the moon passing through the earth's shadow; a solar eclipse, by the moon coming between the sun and the observer. A satellite is eclipsed by entering the shadow of its primary. The obscuration of a planet or star by the moon or a planet, though of the nature of an eclipse, is called an occultation. The eclipse of a small portion of the sun by Mercury or Venus is called a transit of the planet.
 Note: ☞ In ancient times, eclipses were, and among unenlightened people they still are, superstitiously regarded as forerunners of evil fortune, a sentiment of which occasional use is made in literature.
 That fatal and perfidious bark,
 Built in the eclipse, and rigged with curses dark.   --Milton.
 2. The loss, usually temporary or partial, of light, brilliancy, luster, honor, consciousness, etc.; obscuration; gloom; darkness.
    All the posterity of our fist parents suffered a perpetual eclipse of spiritual life.   --Sir W. Raleigh.
 As in the soft and sweet eclipse,
 When soul meets soul on lovers' lips.   --Shelley.
 Annular eclipse. Astron. See under Annular.
 Cycle of eclipses. See under Cycle.


 annular eclipse
      n : only a thin outer disk of the sun can be seen