SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — A rare celestial event happened in the sky on Saturday.

The “ring of fire” solar eclipse dazzled viewers across the country, but the cloudy conditions prevented Kentuckians from seeing it.

What You Need To Know

  • The cloudy conditions left viewers a little disappointed because they could not see the solar eclipse

  • An eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and earth casting the moon’s shadow on earth

  • In Kentucky, the partial eclipse reached its peak coverage at 46% just after 1 p.m.

  • Next year’s solar eclipse will be on April 8, with reaching totality in some parts of Kentucky

Lesley and Ron Blissett had been planning to see the solar eclipse for weeks at the Bullitt County Public Library.

“They took reservations about a month ago and so I was looking forward to it,” said Lesley Blissett, attendee of the Bullitt County Public Library Eclipse Expectations event.

The cloudy conditions left viewers a little disappointed.

“We’re here for the eclipse, but doesn’t look like it’s going to happen. It’s a little bit too cloudy, I think. But we’ve been planning on it, looking forward to it,” she said. “We saw the one before. I was really hoping this would be a good day. It was not.”

An eclipse happens when the moon passes between the sun and earth, casting the moon’s shadow on earth. Conditions have to be just right to see it.

“It has to be a sunny day where you are and the shadow of the moon has to go right overhead and the path it makes is only about 100 miles away,” said Tom Hayes of the Louisville Astronomical Society. “So you have to be within a hundred-mile radius at any given time when it’s not cloudy and everything else lines up.”

In Kentucky the partial eclipse reached its peak coverage at 46% just after 1 p.m. Saturday’s celestial event is known as the ring of fire.

“The moon is a little farther away from the earth, so the moon in the sky would appear a bit smaller. So it doesn’t exactly line up with the sun,” Hayes said. “The sun is bigger than the moon. So we see the edge of the sun around it and that’s why they call it the ring of fire.”

Blissett said she is holding out hope for next year’s solar eclipse, which will reach totality in some parts of Kentucky and Indiana.

“We’ll wait next year. It looks hopeful. In April, we got friends in Evansville, so hope we can go up there,” said Blissett.

Next year’s solar eclipse will be on April 8.

The Louisville Astronomical Society said that on average there is 60% chance of cloudy conditions in April.

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