Today’s Music Monday is inspired by celestial events that occurred yesterday evening: the “ring of fire” solar eclipse! What was this?

According to an article about this event (which hasn’t happened since 1994), ” the moon will cover up to 94 percent of the sun at the eclipse’s peak, leaving a bright ring of light – called an annulus, which means ring-like — around the moon’s disc, NASA scientists said.”

I experienced the eclipse near my home in Southern California and, while I couldn’t actually see or get detailed pictures, the sun was significantly dimmer and, unsurprisingly, the temperature was much cooler than the near 100 degrees it had felt like prior to the eclipse. One of my photos follows below:

Interestingly, although I was unable to see the eclipse, I can partially make it out in a refraction in the picture to the right (which I posted via Instagram).

Just as this “ring of fire” eclipse hadn’t happened for 18 years, the next one also won’t occur for quite some time: 11 years from now in 2023. As explained in a Reuters article, the extended time delay between these events is due to a phenomenon that requires a particular set of orbital dynamics.

Some additional information from the Reuters article: “An annular eclipse occurs when the moon’s orbit is at its furthest point from the Earth and closer to the much larger sun. That juxtaposition allows the moon to block more than 90 percent of the sun’s rays when the two orbs slide into alignment in space.”

The eclipse was quite a captivating and compelling event; something unique that brought people together.  Social media was abuzz with information and imagery. Twitter search is a great way to virtually experience the solar eclipse while viewing a variety of photos and videos documenting it.

In celebration of this unique and engaging event (and the memory of something personal that occurred on this date), the classic 1980s power ballad “Total Eclipse of the Heart” seemed like an appropriate selection:

Written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her album Faster Than the Speed of Night (affiliate link), the song was first released as a single in 1983.

The song is Tyler’s biggest hit reaching number one in the United States and several other countries, making her the first and sole Welsh singer to reach the top of the Billboard Charts.

Maybe for the next lunar eclipse I will feature “Moonshadow” by Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) — or perhaps “Moon River?”