There will be an annular eclipse of the Fun, on Tuesday February 17.
This was the pleasantest of the typos I’ve noticed myself making, and I’ve been looking forward to the opportunity of making use of it. Since the event comes three days after Valentine’s, we may suppose that it was ordained by the pontiffs of the Kalends as a penance for excesses of fun during that festival.
It happens also that an annual shutdown “for maintenance” has been announced for several hours of February 17 and 18 by another powerful priesthood, called Hostmonster, which presides over web hosting and has recently renamed itself Bluehost in hope of sounding less menacing. So now may be the time to see the eclipse of the Sun in the mind before it is shuttered by the internet.
It will be of the ring-shaped (annular) kind, which is far less spectacular than a total eclipse. And to get to where you could see it you would have to travel to the Antarctic coast far south of New Zealand. That would be penance indeed.
Easier to enjoy the understanding of it through the explanation and illustrations in Astronomical Calendar 2026.
The new Moon at which this eclipse occurs precedes the expected first evening appearance of the young Moon that will signal the first day of the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadan, on February 18, which is also Ash Wednesday, the day of repentance.
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