Fred Espenak (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center)

The total solar eclipse featured here was recorded in Bolivia and took place November 3, 1994. The movie shows the entire eclipse cycle. First, the eclipse is partial, with just a sliver of the Sun remaining visible. As the Moon fully covers the solar disk, the eclipse becomes total. The totality phase is over when the Sun becomes visible on the opposite side. During totality, the corona of the Sun, the hot gas surrounding the Sun, is clearly visible.

About eclipses

A solar eclipse takes place when the Moon passes between an observer on Earth and the Sun. This occurs only during New Moon (New Moon occurs when the Moon is between the Sun and the Earth). Typically, the Sun and the Moon don't align properly to give us an eclipse more than a few times a year. On Earth, the Moon's shadow moves swiftly on the surface as the Moon moves in its orbit. In the narrow path of totality, daytime briefly turns to darkness and the halo of the Sun, the corona, comes into view. Minutes later (the maximum length of totality is about 7 minutes), daytime returns.

Ellen Cohen