A few minutes of night, in the middle of the day

C1 · First contact

A notch on the edge of the disc

Nothing has changed yet. The Moon bites into the solar disc on one side, but the daylight will not shift a hair for the next twenty minutes — the eye makes up for it.

Partial phase

The crescent closes

Past 80 % obscuration the shadow finally starts to show: colours lose their warmth, contrasts harden, the air turns cold.

The last seconds

Baily's beads, then the diamond ring

The last thread of photosphere breaks into beads between the lunar mountains. The landscape falls away. This is where the glasses come off.

Totality

The corona appears

The horizon keeps an orange ring all the way round — that is daylight, somewhere else. The brightest stars come out.

Maximum

From here, the Sun does not disappear

To see the corona you have to get inside the shadow's path — a few hundred kilometres is sometimes enough. Outside it, even at 99 %, it is still broad daylight.

C3 · Exit

The diamond ring, in reverse

The photosphere returns on the other side. In a few seconds the day comes back on, faster than it went out.

C4 · Last contact

Over

The disc is whole again. For any given spot on Earth, the next total eclipse takes three and a half centuries to come round, on average — which is why people travel for these.

Out of reach