When night falls this Friday, Oct. 13, the moon jellies will rise and fall, and rise again, propelled by a gentle current pulsing through their saltwater tank. Beautiful, boneless and brainless, they will be unaware as morning comes and the Oregon coast is bathed in a Ring of Fire.
At roughly 8 a.m. on Oct. 14, an annular eclipse will make landfall in Newport. Though the entire eclipse will last more than an hour, the point of annularity — the 4-minute timeframe in which the Ring of Fire is visible — will begin at 9:15 a.m.
Lincoln County is in the path of annularity, making it a prime location for those hoping to catch a glimpse of the spectacle as it stretches from Oregon through Texas, and into Central and South America. The blazing “Ring of Fire” effect is caused by the moon’s position; being at its farthest point from Earth, the moon blocks all but the outer edge of the sun, leaving a molten circle in the sky.
Meanwhile, here on Earth, as bespectacled observers look upon the moon in awe, the infinitely smaller moon jellies of the Aquarium will continue to drift in their own saltwater universe, unaware of the celestial events occurring in the vast universe beyond their own.
