Annular solar eclipse. Solar ring seen around the Moon at the midpoint of an annular solar eclipse. This occurs when the Moon is at a distant point, as opposed to the complete covering of the solar disc seen in a total solar eclipse, where the Moon is closer to the Earth. This image was obtained with an H-alpha filter, revealing the chromosphere, a reddish layer of the Sun's atmosphere. This layer is much brighter than, and drowns out, the fainter corona (outermost layer) that is seen in a total solar eclipse. This is the annular eclipse that took place on 3 October 2005, here photographed from Spain.