Eclipse stylistics, the real dealRunning time: 0:33

By Jean-Luc Dighaye, afloat in the Pacific Ocean

"Experienced eclipse-chasers aboard the MV Discovery, north of the Pitcairn Islands, described the April 8th eclipse as the most colorful one they'd ever seen. When totality set in, the Moon's inky black silhouette was [surrounded by] a thin and nearly complete ring of magenta fire, which was in turn enveloped by a fainter and more expansive white glow -- the solar corona, the sun's outer atmosphere. [The cororna] extended in opposite directions like a bow tie. Adding to the spectacle, the planet Venus gleamed brightly to the right of the Sun in a deep twilight-blue sky.

"What made this eclipse so colorful (and so short: 33 seconds) was the nearly perfect match in apparent size between the Sun and the Moon. The Moon just barely covered the Sun's visible face, revealing not only the vast corona but also the chromosphere, the thin, lower layer of the solar atmosphere that glows with the characteristic red light of energized hydrogen atoms.



"In most total eclipses, the chromosphere is visible only fleetingly at the beginning and end of totality, on opposite sides of the Sun. But on April 8th, it formed a nearly complete circle, accented by more than a half-dozen flamelike prominences. A particularly large and bright prominence at the 12 o'clock position had detached from the Sun's limb and hung suspended in space...

"Occasionally during the partial phases of the eclipse, the Sun was blocked not only by the Moon but also by billowing clouds. However, observers on both ships saw totality around local noon through only a thin haze of cirrus that did little to diminish the experience. Indeed, some felt that the clouds enhanced the experience, partly because they heightened the drama, and partly because they hid Venus until the moment of totality, when it popped into view suddenly and brilliantly. Many eclipse-watchers also noted the appearance of a colorful, 22°-diameter halo ringing the partially eclipsed Sun shortly before totality, caused by ice crystals in the high clouds."

See also:

Eclipse stylistics, the remix
Eclipse stylistics
Eclipses in 2005
and
In the future, the Moon will cover the Sun...