HANGA: The moon blotted out most of the sun across the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, giving just a few specks of land an impressive annular `ring of fire` eclipse.

Only Easter Island and a small area near the southern tip of Chile and Argentina witnessed an annular eclipse, lasting just a few minutes.

`The ring of fire is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,` Rocio Garcia, a tourist on Easter Island said on Tuesday.

`Especially here in Rapa Nui with the Moai in the background it will be spectacular.` An annular eclipse happens when the moon is too far away from Earth to completely blot out the sun, like a total eclipse, creating a dark silhouette surrounded by a bright ring of light called an antumbra, or more casually, a `ring of fire`.

As the sun darkened over the island onWednesday afternoon, people gathered outdoors, chanted, played music, and wore special eye-wear to catch a glimpse of the eclipse.

`I got excited when people were shouting. Everybody`s fervor made it more exciting,` said Alejandra Astudillo, an Easter Island resident.

An estimated 175,000 people live in the path of the eclipse`s annularity, giving far-flung residents and eclipse-chasing tourists a stunning view. `It was an extraordinary phenomenon that`s not often seen,` said Esteban Sanchez in Las Horquetas, Argentina, one of the few towns in the eclipse`s direct path. `This is the first time I`ve seen that and it was really good.

The southern half of South America, along with parts of Antarctica and Hawaii, saw a partial eclipse according to a map plotted out by Nasa.-Reuters