The shrinking solar crescent from two eclipses. In May 2012, the moon was in a farther part of its elliptical orbit, unable to fully block the solar disc, leading to an annular eclipse. In August 2017, the moon was nearer, able to completely obscure the sun’s disc in a total eclipse. (Lest there be any confusion: the two images were shot at different scales – the sun’s size at each eclipse was almost identical.)