How fast will the annular solar eclipse on Oct. 2 travel?

A round shadow falls on the top of a rounded Earth from space, Solar panels from the space station protrude from above.

The shadow of an annular eclipse, as seen from the International Space Station on May 20, 2012. (Image credit: NASA/Don Pettit)

On Oct. 2, an moon will change constantly. So will the orbital speed of the moon. Put together, those factors mean the speed of the shadow will vary drastically.

Here's a look at where the moon's shadow will move the fastest and the slowest so you can plan for the how to observe the sun safely.

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This animated GIF shows the annular eclipse path arcing across the globe. (Image credit: Solar Eclipse Global Animation by Fred Espenak, eclipsewise.com, and Michael Zeiler, greatamericaneclipse.com)

The event will begin as an eclipsed sunrise, peak at midday and end with an eclipsed sunset. The curvature of Earth makes a huge difference in the apparent speed of the moon's shadow across its surface, with the extremes of the path seeing by far the fastest speeds. After all, that's where the shadow strikes Earth at the most extreme tangent.