Composite photo of 8 separate images of different phases leading to totality
The composite image here shows the partial phases of the eclipse beginning at the 1:00 position and again 3:00 and 5:00 positions. After that is when it gets incomparable: Totality is just about set to begin at the 7:00 position and a few seconds later at the 9:00 position with the iconic “Diamond Ring” (it looks like a diamond ring doesn’t it?!), and then as the moon moves to cover up the remaining view of the sun, the 10:00 position image shows “Bailey’s Beads” where you can actually see (for a moment or two) the sun appearing as broken up dots as it shines through valleys on the moon between craters! – still not “totality”, technically. The photo at the 12:00 position (you may have to look hard, as it is quite dim compared to the others) showing the Chromosphere (the atmosphere of the sun only visible from the Earth during a total solar eclipse).
