What to See During an Eclipse

As the moon passes in front of the Sun, the eclipse goes through stages that provide an evolving spectacle, two plus hours of steadily changing views. Click on the images to see what you can see.

Remember: NEVER view any stage except totality with your naked eyes. Use safe viewing techniques to preserve your eyesight.

Full Sun

Before the eclipse begins, and after it ends, the full disk of the Sun burns in the sky. The visible region of the Sun is called the photosphere. While you wait for the eclipse to begin, use safe viewing techniques to look for sunspots, slightly cooler areas on the sun (only 4,500 degrees Celsius!) that look dark compared to the blinding photosphere. The Sun has an eleven-year cycle of sunspot activity. In 2016, we’re midway through the cycle, so the Sun is showing a medium number of sunspots.

You can’t see the moon as it approaches the Sun, because from Earth we’re seeing its dark side—the New Moon. But it’s there, as will become obvious at First Contact.

First Contact

The eclipse begins at the moment the moon first “touches” the edge of the solar disk, approaching it from the right as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. (It doesn’t actually touch the Sun, of course—but it appears to as it begins to pass in front of the solar disk.)

This picture was taken with a 300mm lens with a Calcium-K filter. (Photo by Eric Blackhurst, OPT)

The moon, invisible until now in the daytime sky, becomes visible as a black disk blocking the Sun. For the next hour and a half, it slowly consumes a larger and larger chunk of the Sun.

Partial Eclipse

This image of the partially eclipsed Sun looks purplish because of the filter on the telescope. It was taken using a Calcium-K filter, which sees the Sun in near-ultraviolet light.

Photo by Eric Blackhurst, OPT

Second Contact

Second contact occurs when the moon almost completely covers the Sun, in the moments before totality. The last bright flash of the Sun, combined with an emerging view of the corona encircling the moon, produces a spectacular effect called the Diamond Ring.

This image was taken with a 300mm lens in white light. (Photo by Eric Blackhurst, OPT)

You may see bright pink spots near the “diamond.” These are gigantic jets and loops of gas that rise from the sun’s surface, usually near sunspots. Called prominences, their beautiful hue is the color of glowing hydrogen gas.

Totality

The Sun is now completely hidden, revealing the full glory of the solar corona. These few minutes of the total solar eclipse are the only times we on Earth can see the corona, the Sun’s upper atmosphere, which streams out into space above the sun’s surface. Normally, the corona’s delicate light is outshone by the bright photosphere.

This image was taken with a 600mm lens in white light. (Photo by Eric Blackhurst, OPT)

This is the one time you can safely look at the Sun with your naked eye. If you can draw your eyes away from the Sun for a few moments, you’ll notice that the sky has become quite dark and the temperature has dropped, comparable to twilight. In the sky, the brighter stars and planets have come out. The horizon is lit up all around you, like a 360º sunset, where the Earth is experiencing a partial eclipse.

Third Contact

Totality ends at Third Contact, as the leading edge of the moon begins to move off the Sun. On the moon’s trailing edge, the first light of the photosphere shines through mountains and valleys on its surface, creating a necklace-like effect called Bailey's Beads. At totality’s end, resume using safe viewing techniques.

This image was taken with a 600mm lens in white light. (Photo by Eric Blackhurst, OPT)

Sunlight Restored

Moments after Third Contact, the sun reemerges in a burst of light, creating a second Diamond Ring on the opposite side of the Sun. As the moon reveals more of the Sun, the corona quickly fades from view in the brightness of the newly restored photosphere.