On Feb. 26, a "ring of fire" replaced the sun over cities in South America and parts of Africa as an annular solar eclipse played out in the skies.

The annular eclipse occurs when the moon passes in front of the sun but is too far away from Earth to completely block it, according to a release from NASA. This leaves the sun’s edges exposed and silhouettes the moon in a red-orange ring.

Images acquired by the space agency show the movement of both the Earth and the moon’s shadow.

(MORE: China's Record-Breaking Solar Farm Seen From Space)

The eclipse began "at the southern tip of South America, first making landfall in Chile and passing through Argentina before traveling over the Atlantic Ocean toward Africa," according to Slooh.

While the moon did block much of the sun, this event is not considered a total solar eclipse.

A total eclipse will occur on Aug. 21 and will cross the entire continental U.S. for the first time in nearly four decades, NASA also said.

"When the moon blocks out the sun during a total eclipse, those regions of Earth that are in the direct path of totality become dark as night for almost three minutes," NASA Heliophysics Division director Steve Clarke said in the release. "This will be one of the best-observed eclipses to date, and we plan to take advantage of this unique opportunity to learn as much as we can about the sun and its effects on Earth."

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Annular Solar Eclipse