Why can an annular eclipse occur when the Moon is farthest from Earth?

An annular eclipse occurs when the Moon is near its farthest point from Earth—known as its apogee—because of the way the apparent sizes of the Sun and Moon change in our sky.12

While the Sun and Moon appear to be nearly the same angular size from Earth, their actual distances from us fluctuate because both bodies travel in elliptical orbits. When the Moon is at its greatest distance from Earth, its apparent disk in the sky becomes smaller than the Sun's disk.13

If a solar eclipse occurs during this time, the Moon is not large enough to cover the Sun completely. Instead, it leaves a thin, bright ring of the solar disk visible around its silhouette, which is why the event is called an annular eclipse.142