The Total Solar Eclipse of 2016 in Pictures

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March 2016 Total Solar Eclipse: 'Diamond Ring'

Slooh Community Observatory

The "diamond ring" effect is seen in this view of the March 8, 2016 total solar eclipse, which was captured by the Slooh Community Observatory.

March 2016 Solar Eclipse from India

Pratiti Nath

Pratiti Nath of Calcutta, India, captured this shot of a partial solar eclipse on March 9, 2016.

2016 Total Solar Eclipse Near Totality

NASA TV

The total solar eclipse of 2016 nears totality in this telescope view captured on March 9, 2016 from Woleai Island in Micronesia during a NASA webcast.

March 2016 Solar Eclipse from India (2)

Pratiti Nath

Another image of the March 9, 2016 partial solar eclipse taken by Pratiti Nath, of Calcutta, India.

Total Solar Eclipse of March 2016: Slooh View

Slooh Community Observatory

The moon blocks out the sun's disk over Indonesia on March 8, 2016 in this screengrab from an eclipse webcast by the online Slooh Community Observatory.

March 2016 Solar Eclipse from Malaysia

Doug Furtek

Doug Furtek captured this view of the solar eclipse at 8:38 a.m. local time in the Malaysian town of Tawau, which is on the island of Borneo.

March 2016 Total Solar Eclipse Path Image

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/E. Wright

This NASA graphic depicts the 100-mile-wide (160 kilometers) path of totality for the total solar eclipse of March 8, 2016 (which will actually occur on March 9 in Southeast Asia, which lies on the other side of the international date line).

How to Look at a Solar Eclipse Without Going Blind (Infographic)

Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor

You should never look directly at the sun, but there are ways to safely observe an eclipse. See how to safely observe a solar eclipse with this Space.com infographic.

Guide to Solar Eclipses (Infographic)

Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor

How Solar Eclipses Work: When the moon covers up the sun, skywatchers delight in the opportunity to see a rare spectacle. See how solar eclipses occur in this Space.com infographic.

2016 Total Solar Eclipse: Sun Coverage Map

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

This NASA graphic shows how much of the sun will be covered by the moon for parts of southeast Asia on March 9, 2016 during a total solar eclipse. Shown here is a total solar eclipse for southern Borneo at 0030 GMT, while nearby regions see a partial eclipse.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.