On May 20, 2012 the rare Annular Solar Eclipse will be visible on the west coast of North America and in parts of Asia, over to the northern Pacific Ocean.

In this weekend's annular solar eclipse, the Moon will slide in front of the sun and block 94 percent of its light. But because the moon is near apogee it appears smaller to us, and will only cover most of the Sun — leaving a ring of fiery light blasting the edges. In other words, at maximum, the Moon forms a "black hole" in the center of the Sun.

NASA reports that the full annular eclipse starts in Thailand, travels to the east of Japan, passes the Aleutian Islands then enters the US at Eureka, Calif. in Humboldt County. It moves in a south westerly direction and ends in southwest Texas.

Because an Annular Solar Eclipse requires the Earth, Moon and Sun to be in a particular alignment, the event is particularly rare; this is the first such eclipse since 1994.

During a full solar eclipse, the moon completely covers the sun; on May 20, the moon covers most of the sun. "The sun appears as a very bright ring, or annulus, surrounding the outline of the moon," said Jim Havlice, Mt. Shasta Star Gazer leader.

"Mount Shasta is a nearly ideal location to observe this eclipse," he emphasized.

This is the first remarkable astronomical event of the year. It will be followed by the transit of Venus on June 6th and a Total Solar Eclipse near the end of the year, on November 13.