… and Back to Diamonds!
Today’s post features the early phenomena experienced during totality of the Great American Total Solar Eclipse of 2024 … the formation of the brilliant “Diamond Ring”, followed closely by the “breakdown” of the diamond ring into “Baily’s Beads”. I also have included some images of coming out of totality … the Baily’s Beads are once again seen (on the opposite side of the sun-moon surface), followed by the second Diamond Ring, as the sun begins emerging from darkness!
One of the most breathtaking features of a total solar eclipse is the “Diamond Ring effect”. This phenomenon occurs twice … just before, and just after totality. It is caused by the last tiny bit of sun peeking out from behind the sun, creating a bright point of light, resembling a sparkling Diamond, while the sun’s corona (the shell of thin gas that extends out some distance from the sun’s surface, normally visible only during totality) resembles the band of the diamond ring. This stage of the eclipse lasts only a few seconds, as the moon races to totally cover (or uncover) the sun!
The Diamond Ring immediately transitions into “Baily’s Beads”, going into totality (when coming out of totality, the Baily’s Beads happen first and the Diamond Ring immediately follows). Baily’s Beads occur whenever only a very small amount of light are visible at the edge of the moon. Named after scientist Francis Baily who first explained this phenomenon, the small amount of light appears as small beadlets of light … actually, they are seen as “beads” because the light passes through valleys on the moon’s surface, with each bead separated from the others by the moon’s mountainous landscape. Again, this phenomenon lasts only a few, brief seconds.
Here are some of the images I captured that show the Diamond Ring:
The Diamond Ring quickly transitions to Baily’s Beads:
After 4 minutes and 38 seconds of totality, the reverse stages are seen as the moon begins to uncover the sun (note that the Beads are not as well-defined on this side of the moon … likely due to less mountains/valleys on this portion of the moon surface):
Coming up … in the next post, I will highlight the sun’s chromosphere and solar prominences (some can be seen in the above images, but will be discussed in the next post).
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 camera body
- Canon 500mm, f/4 IS lens, equipped with approved solar filter
- Bogen 3021 tripod and Wemberly gimbal head
- ISO varied
- Aperture f/8
- Shutter varied sec.
James Braswell
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