The "ring of fire" as it was captured in the camera when the moon aligned itself in front of the sun at about ten-thirty in the morning in New Mexico. The sky is dark in the image only because of the extreme under-exposure to accommodate the brightness of the solar disc, which appears as white light on the original capture. In reality, the sky was not dark to the human eye during this particular event, but visibly was like the result you get from wearing sunglasses, making the brightness diminished.