WEATHER PERFECT FOR VIEWING ANNULAR ECLIPSE OF SUN

The moon glided in front of the sun Tuesday, creating a partial eclipse that turned the sun into a crescent of light locally.

In many parts of the United States, sky watchers saw a perfectly round silhouette of the moon surrounded by a ring of sunlight. John Peterson, director of the El Paso, Texas, Planetarium, called it "spectacular."

Astronomers, international reporters and eclipse watchers gathered under El Paso's clear blue sky to view the eclipse.

A ring or annular eclipse occurs when the moon moves directly between the Earth and sun. The moon's orbit isn't exactly circular and it's now nearest its farthest point from Earth.

Because the moon is at a distant point in its orbit, it appears smaller than the sun and can't quite cover it. The result is a ring of light.

On Tuesday, 94 percent of the sun was covered by the moon.

More than 100 people converged on the courtyard between Rhodes Hall and Johnson Hall at Southeast Missouri State University to view the partial eclipse through safe filters and several telescopes.

The eclipse bathed the Cape Girardeau area in a noticeably different shade of sunlight, which made for more vibrant colors in everything from the red brick of a building to the green leaves of trees.

Eclipse watchers also noticed a drop in temperature.

The eclipse lasted over three hours, beginning here at 10:14 a.m. and ending at 1:43 p.m.

"I think for most people it's a once-in-a-lifetime event," said Cape Girardeau City Councilman Tom Neumeyer, who turned out to view the eclipse through the university telescopes.

A photographer, Neumeyer said the sunlight appeared "more intense" during the eclipse. "The color of the sky is so much deeper."

Neumeyer viewed with appreciation the light streaming down through the leaves of nearby trees, creating a pattern of crescent-shaped suns on the shaded sidewalk. "The word is dappled," he said, summing up his description of the scene.

Also on hand for Mother Nature's show was Timexx Nasty. A member of a local band, he had his name legally changed to his stage name.

Nasty -- sporting long hair and a "Ditto Head, Rush is Right" T-shirt proclaiming his support for conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh -- was intrigued with the eclipse.

He said his interest was largely due to the fact "it only happens every so often."

Even without a telescope, the eclipse was certainly noticeable. "It got darker. The temperature dropped for a while," he said, as he stood in line waiting to catch another glimpse through the telescope.

Southeast Missouri State University senior Kelly Prince stopped to view the astronomical sight after finishing a final exam.

"It's pretty neat," said Prince, a biology major who is graduating this spring.

"I am really interested in astronomy stuff," said Prince, adding that she saw an eclipse about 10 years ago when she was in sixth grade.

She said one thing surprised her about this eclipse. "I kind of expected it would be darker."

Craig Joseph, assistant professor of physics at Southeast, served as a "tour guide" for the eclipse watchers -- focusing the telescopes and explaining the event to onlookers.

Joseph said his interest in eclipses is more from an aesthetic rather than scientific viewpoint.

People have always had a fascination with eclipses, he said. "There is sort of a primal fear of the sun being covered up, the sky becoming dark in the middle of the day."

Some information for this story was provided by The Associated Press.