A petroglyph near Albuquerque, New Mexico, may represent a solar eclipse seen by a Native American of pre- or post-Columbian times. The petroglyph is similar to a Sun symbol with a distinct diagonal trace that resembles contempo-rary images of coronal mass ejections obtained with coronagraphs. A coronagraph acquires images by using an occulting disk to block the intense light from the solar disk and allow the weakly illuminated corona in the background to become visible. A natural total solar eclipse, in which the Moon blocks the intense solar light, also allows direct visual observation of coronal structures, such as the magnetic field topology and streamers. If a coronal mass ejection is in progress during a total solar eclipse, it may be possible to see it directly with the unaided eye. The date of the petroglyph is not accurately known, but it may have been engraved on the rock sometime after about AD 1300 and up to the time of Spanish and US entry into the area. During this time interval, there were four solar eclipses (AD 1379, 1397, 1557, and 1806) in which the path of totality passed over the loca-tion of the petroglyph; thus, one of these eclipses may have provided a direct visual observation of a coronal mass ejection.
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