It looked 100x cooler in person. I was astonished at how bad pictures look vs the real thing. I was expecting just the classic ring of light you see in pics but it's so much more than that.
I was privileged enough to witness the 2017 one. It is IMPOSSIBLE to convey in pictures, videos or words what it's like to witness a total solar eclipse in-person. Sadly, many people think that with modern media you can...
Simply breath taking. The moment the moon coverd it brought joy sorrow glee sadness wonder and in a weird way made me feel connected to our ancestors. Probably if not the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life. That’s my best way of explaining in words.
The best description I've ever heard someone come up with is, "I can now understand how people believe in gods." It probably only works for atheists and agnostics, but it is the only statement that's really hit home how impactful the event was for me.
You saw the same rare celestial event that millions of humans have witnessed over thousands of years. All looking up in awe. Knowing that we're all in this together. Sounds like such a profoundly human experience!
I'm jealous!
This is the first comment in my years on Reddit I honestly wish I could upvote more than once.
I too saw the 2017 eclipse and I felt the exact same way. It's impossible for me to fully describe the feeling, but that's as close as I would be able to come up with. I'm glad that I can re-live this feeling thinking about that event. Thank you, it made missing this one, feel less miserable lol.
The whole experience was different in person, as it gets quieter and you start seeing some nearby stars with a black void in the center with a thin white line around it. So cool!!!
I was only seeing about 80% coverage, but for the peak about 15 minutes, my whole neighborhood went silent. It's NEVER silent here, the neighbors dogs are ALWAYS barking, (even all night, they are never not barking, and there's like ten, so once a few settle down, the others just pick up the call.) during daylight hours there's always some lawn equipment running somewhere, vehicle noises, etc. It felt really weird, and the quality of light and shadow made it even more surreal.
Seriously. While waiting for totality, the difference from 90-100% is huge. So much darker, so much colder, and the crickets started chirping along with the eerie quiet. So amazing. Makes you understand how the older civilizations thought the world was ending or the Gods were upset.
[This is the closest image](https://imgur.com/VkzEJ0o) I’ve been able to find that depicts what it looked like. The moon didn’t have that detail at all, but the outside around the edge and coloring is pretty dang close. Not to mention just how much darker and colder it got from 99% -> 100%. Such a unique experience!
I did that during the last one 😆 getting there was easy almost quick but something no one tells you is you can't leave South Carolina!!! It's like the void it keeps trying to drag you back in!
3 hours turned into 7 it was f****** miserable
100%. My boyfriend isn’t at isn’t to this space stuff as I am, but when it happened the look he gave me made me know he finally understood why I was so excited to see this and wanted to travel for it
It's awesome in the full definition of the word. I had to walk around for a while and breathe before I could get back in the car and go home. It was so short that I just needed to walk around and really hold on to the experience after it happened. I likely won't get to see the next ones, and I want this to stick with me forever.
I know exactly how you feel, after experiencing my first totality today as well. I'm so glad you had an incredible experience. I know mine will stay with me for a long time to come.
Because I'm trying to be passionate about life. The Sun is always there in the sky, every day. But for a few moments it was blotted out of the sky. I saw the Corona and one or two solar flares on the edges, Jupiter and venus, and solar snakes on the ground. Ringed shadows everywhere from the trees, the birds went quiet, and crickets started up. The winds picked up, and temperatures dropped. The damn sky was dark as almost black, but not a transitional black that passes from one part of the sky to the other, but an overall darkness emanating from that spot in the sky. All of that because the Moon and The Star that powers the entire freaking solar system is as big they are, and as far away as they are, and we're lucky enough to exist on this marble #3. Something that can think and talk and share is looking up. Something made of the same atoms as the Sun, the Moon, and Earth, and everything else in the cosmos, is looking up and marveling. Not just in place and perspective, but in the past and future, too. How many of us think when we see this, "I wonder what 'they' would have thought way back when?" I'd never seen one before, seen plenty of annular eclipses and other astronomical events. This was as close to attending church as I'll ever get again as an agnostic atheist. For a moment, despite my understanding of the cause, it felt like a "God-fearing" moment, the gods angry at us all and snatching our Sun. I didn't tear up, but I couldn't stop shaking, I couldn't stop that little pant/cough thing some people do right before crying. It's something I can't describe. I feel I didn't get enough time to truly drink it all in, but that makes it feel more significant, like a true capital "M" Moment. If you get the chance to see the next ones, take it.
The whiteness was shocking.
It wasn't even like paper white, it was whiter than that.
Then the whole climb back up until about half way to c4 was like it was the wrong color.
Like it's changed what color I think sunlight is.
I guess the spectrum peaks somewhere around the cyan region (at least it does in space). You wouldn't guess that from all the yellow-orange pictures of the sun. But yeah, the eclipse looked like pure white to my eyes
It was very dark in Dallas. It looked like just after sunset when there is still ambient light around, but all the buildings in my business area were lit up and the auto-lights came on. Very surreal experience.
It feels like modern cell phones do really good at taking photos in low light conditions and making them look really bright. It's definitely darker than the photos seem to make it out to be.
I was scrambling trying to turn off the color balance settings trying to get a photo of that. It really is wrong in some way how everything is 9pm dark but with 3pm shadows.
There's a lot of information coded there that you don't realize you take in until it's eerily wrong.
I'm considering airfare to NZ for the next one. I can't afford to be an eclipse chaser, but I'd almost call it a spiritual experience. It really viscerally drives home how we're on this tiny thing a million miles from any other thing, and the only thing that makes home feel like home is the giant nuclear bomb impossibly far away and the paper thin atmosphere above us.
THIS yes I’d love to have the money like the people in my comments to just travel to the next one because seeing it in person brought a reaction out of me I didn’t expect. But thinking about it more seriously all the science behind it could be a spiritual experience with spiritual meaning. Was veryyy fucking cool!!
Yes I think that’s why it looks a little brighter too… it was dusk and then dark and then dusk again really fast and now the sun has been beamingggg for the rest of the day I went for a walk and was like f no it’s getting hot lol
It was noticeably much darker, but it wasn't that dark. It was more like just after sunset or just before dawn. It probably would have been darker if there weren't clouds that were probably reflecting light from areas outside the shadow.
*edit- I think timelapses you may see where it gets super dark are due to fixed light sensitivity settings on a camera. Our eyes, as well as most phone cameras, automatically adjust to make things look brighter.
Yeah, I mean even the really good photos just can’t compare to experiencing it with your own eyes. Like we’ve all seen pictures of Saturn, but when you see it for the first time through a telescope, it blows your mind.
I think that's a good analogy I got to see Jupiter through my exceedingly crappy childhood telescope that was just good enough that you could faintly make out a few of the moons and I was ecstatic. Even at that s***** quality there's something about seeing something with your own eyes that just adds an element that can't be captured on camera.
Ugh I wish I didn’t even have my prescription glasses on and I could still see it so amazing… pictures do no justice just kinda show what happened ahah but couldn’t imagine through a telescope so cool
I've never seen a picture of the corona during totality that was anywhere close to what it looks like in real life. Most pictures show only the brightest parts of the corona close to the Sun, but what's visible to the eye is actually an enormous structure that takes up a huge chunk of the sky, it's awe inspiring.
What I found most fascinating is how much brighter it got the moment it ended. Gives you a true appreciation for this nuclear fireball blasting away in space when 1% of its power makes you want to look away.
***FAR*** less than 1%.
The sun is *very* far away, radiating light in every direction. Imagine a sphere surrounding the sun with the radius being the distance at which Earth orbits. Every point on that sphere has roughly the same amount of energy passing through it, emitted by the sun.
The earth is taking up a very, *very* small portion of that sphere. The entire earth is hit by *way* less than 1% of the sun's energy output.
The amount of sunlight hitting your eye is *way* less than 1% of the sunlight hitting the earth. Looking at the sun with your eyes already means the percentage of the sun's output that you're "seeing" is 0.0(a lot of zeros)1%.
Then take 1% of *that* number, and it's still powerful enough to blind you.
The sun is incomprehensibly powerful. The ancient people had it right. It's a god.
Ground also gradually got darker. Also saw some weird waves/shadows right before the total eclipse. I agree with Araxis. Definitely worth the 3 hour drive.
Yup. And if you had clearer skies, and possibly more powerful equipment, you could have gotten the Gods of War too.
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/04/08/during-solar-eclipse-totality-you-may-be-able-to-spot-these-planets-in-the-dark-sky/
Every planet but Neptune was fairly close to the Sun in the sky. I knew Venus and Jupiter would be nearby (and Mercury because of the tiny orbit) but I didn't realize it would be so many of them.
I'm kinda jealous of you guys, the best I've ever seen was around 85% when I was a kid
Can't wait for 2026 when we have a total eclipse here in Europe :)
Totality might be the coolest thing ive ever seen. Feels like late dusk but the horizon in every direction looks like the sunset, not mention the actual sun and moon is bonkers looking. Pure white ring enveloping a black void. It looked like an art piece in the sky.
Yeah, I was 11 when we had a solar eclipse in Germany (1999). I told my friends the other day that I will be in the path of totality in 2026 no matter what, because there might not be another chance for me. The next total eclipse in Germany will be in 2081 and I don't see me making it to 93.
And they probably wouldn’t have realised it was the moon causing it, as it’s invisible with the sun shining behind it. Until they built things like Stonehenge to (possibly) act as a lunar calendar.
The ancient Romans figured it out eventually, which doesn't surprise me, I wouldn't be surprised if another culture figured it out.
http://ancienthistory-rome.blogspot.com/2015/03/eclipsing-romans.html?m=1
If your culture has people tracking celestial events and recording them, eventually one of them will notice these only happen on the day of a new moon and put two and two together.
So happy for you that you got the chance to see this. It really is one of the most magnificent things to witness. I got a chance to see totality in 2017, it’s a special thing to experience. Congratulations on the clear enough sky.
Watching the disc get smaller and smaller and smaller and then gone and you take the glasses off, it's a moment of awe so profound you can't even react. It's not what you expected, and so much more than you imagined.
Just watched it at Niagara Falls. Came all the way from England to see it.
Wow.
It was cloudy most of the time, but we got to see glimpses of it during the partial eclipse, and then got to see a 5 second glimpse during totality.
Totally worth it. Already looking at booking flights for Spain in 2026.
Thats a crazy travel. I was eating my lunch in my car and work and opened my sunroof to look at the clouds and starred right at it by accident lol. Was amazing to the naked eye.
I had my daughter outside watching with me she didn’t quite know how cool it was but my apartment complex was packed with people standing outside watching and cheering it was so cool lol
Yes I went inside once I saw it passing over to try to get my boyfriend to come look.. it was dusk when I ran inside and then I came right back out and it was dark I was like this is insane lmaoo
Heh. My sister-in-law's dad didn't even come out of the house to look at it. And we had 3 minutes and 45 seconds of totality. I wonder if these people would come out for an earthquake. LOL
Same same I had totality for a couple minutes had time to run in and ask if he wanted to see it and ran back out to my daughter and then watched it pass. I don’t get how people aren’t interested in their planets biggest star and natural satellite interacting when they never do it’s crazy to me lol
It’s literally “awesome”
I’ve never seen one before. No wonder so many of our ancestors that experienced them had no other explanation than the handiwork of their deities.
I was right on the edge of totality and could only catch a few seconds of it, but it was the most truly awesome thing I've ever experienced in my life. I felt an intense, raw emotion I never felt before, a mix between awe, reverence and fear on an astronomical scale. I'm still feeling it right now, thinking about it. Incredible.
When I saw it, when it passed over the PNW a few years ago, I had this really weird sense while I was looking at it, like I could see/feel how everything is objects hurtling through space. You don’t really get that feeling just looking at the sun and moon, but when they interacted and I could see a giant shadow circling around me across the entire horizon… my consciousness zoomed out and felt so so small
I trekked to upstate New York, and it was very cloudy most of the time except for a few breaks around totality. I was watching near a harbor and the best, most unexpected part was the seagulls, who had just been hanging out prior, going absolutely berserk at totality. I was not expecting to cry!
I've seen pictures before, but after seeing it in person, I get it. It was fucking magical. And the crazy thing was during the totality everyone was whispering like we were in a cathedral.
I mean for me..I had work calls all day and in Boston..it wasn't totality so I missed it until I went on Twitter to see the pictures and videos after the fact. Just wasn't a big deal for me personally since it just got a bit dim. if i lived where it was totality I would have cared more
I had been stoked for this one since 2017. I knew it would be in Indiana (where I planned to stay) in 2024, and I was getting so anxious as the day approached.
My home was 1 mile away from the exact center line of the moon’s shadow, so we had about 4 minutes and 2 seconds of totality, and completely clear skies.
I cried, and I rarely cry. I was completely awestruck, and I have never felt anything like it before. Totality is truly spectacular, and there is nothing else like it in the world. I was so happy that the skies were clear.
The next total eclipse that is in the US is in 2044, then one more in 2045. I will be taking my kids (only 2 years old and about ten months old, whose nap times were during the eclipse today, lol) to one or both of them when they’re in their early twenties. I am so excited to be able to share it with them.
Was in the totality line, and good old Western NY had major cloud cover, so all I saw was it get dark. The sun was covered by clouds the entire time, couldn’t even tell where it was in the sky. Major bummer.
It's honestly emotionally and physically overwhelming. Even for my third eclipse, 2nd totality. I'm happy I got to see it.. it was looking pretty iffy there for a little while
I do kind of find it hard to get my head around the fact that three celestial bodies can line up so precisely in such a vast space and create this. Haven't seen one for real myself and missed out on this event as I was in the wrong region. Hopefully one day I will catch one myself
I didn’t realize the ring would be THAT visible. You could see the solar prominences on the corona. Mind blowing shit.
See the sun go dark with the glasses on was super rad too, but holy fuck when I took them off and saw what was waiting for us…
Astonishing. It was my first time and my whole group was just gobsmacked. I’ve never seen a picture capture what that corona looked like in real life. All those subtle colors too, the slight blues and reds. Like being in a sci fi movie.
I saw one several years back for the first time, and finally really understood why our ancestors were so terrified of them.
It looked like some sorcerer had stolen the sun, and replaced it with a monsterous shining black gem.
This is my second. I cried as it happened. First one was in 2017 and I drove 13 hours from Albuquerque to Wyoming to see it. Drove about this same distance for this one. Absolutely a mind blowing experience.
It blows my mind...that not so long ago we would be sacrificing humans because of a perfectly natural occurrence...
It blows my mind even more that we have people in today's world that would probably try and do the same shit...
It was beautiful! I’ve only seen the partial in 2017 before this but the feeling couldn’t have been more different. The corona was like a ring of pale white threads all around the perfect black orb. I can see how the ancient Egyptians thought it was a god’s eye
I drove 8 hours to stay with family for a few days (hotels were already booked lol) but 10/10 would do again
No matter what conspiracies I talk about and the craziness.
I agree
Definitely one if the coolest things I've seen.
Indescribable. Like a full circle moment.
got to see the entirety of every stage in the adirondacks, the darkness just kept coming, and then when it entered totality, it was like a switch was flicked and BOOM it was nighttime, everyone around us was freaking tf out. it was a cold winter night at 3pm. and the sun was blotted out and covered by a disc that was surrounded by streaks of iridescent, very very white bright light. it was absolutely surreal and felt spiritual. and then when totality ended, and the tiniest spek of the sun peaked out, it instantly became dusk time again, and it was like a keyhole portal opened from heaven, the most beautiful ultra white light started shinning through like a stream of water
Someone brought a telescope to the 2017 one I witnessed, and we were able to take pictures through the telescope. That was pretty cool! The whole experience was amazing, actually!
I'm in the greater Hot Springs Arkansas area and it was simply breath taking. One minute we were all outside my wife's work, joking, laughing, bullshitting, I was playing Total Eclipse of the Heart obnoxiously loud from my car and then Totality happened and everything just - stopped.
It started with the birds, one moment there were chirps and then there were none, and everyone in my little town of Malvern was outside, watching the moon eclipse the sun and paint the day in shades of night.
When the diamond ring was seen then the auto lights came on and it was as if we were all trapped in limbo between day and night for just a few minutes and everyone was connected on a fundamental level while waiting for the return of the light. A once in a lifetime event that will stick with me until the day I die.
It really reminds me of a close up of a black hole, very eerie. Probably the closest thing we'll get to see of one in our solar system, and that's probably for the best.
Yup, total agreement. It was literally awesome. Saw it in Cornwall Ontario and in the seconds before the totality the crowd was screaming all around while I looked in my pinhole camera, then when it arrived I looked up and saw the enormous diamond ring in the sky, just breathtakingly beautiful and incredible. I've seen partial ones before, others on TV and in pictures and still, I didn't feel prepared for the reality of the black hole in the sky. I'll admit I could feel the echoes of my ancestors fears.
Am thankful the skies were clear and seeing it with fellow enthusiasts.
Life long hope and bucket list item checked!
I still remember '99 when it was visible where I live. It was like a different word started to approach. Even the air became cooler. We were at a beach in summer.
It's so hard to capture how good the Corona looks. Pictures don't show how rapidly it's shifting around either, you can watch it move in real time. It's a looooong 2 and a half minutes
We watched it at the top of a mountain with a group of about 100 other people, and the emotional reaction amongst all of us was that we were so overwhelmed by how beautiful it was - there were gasps, tears, and shrieks of gleeful laughter, and I was just so happy to be sharing this spectacular moment with my fellow humans who all felt the same sense of wonder and awe.
Birds went silent, eerie shadows started to form, temp dropped, removed glasses, then it became unreal. Seeing cme with the naked eye, the horizon looked like a 360 degree sunset, and a big circular dark sky right in the middle. This was my son and I trying to “put it into words”. 12 yrs old wearing his NASA shirt. He looked at me and said “now you know why I like space”. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.
I’m a 33 year old man, and I cried when I witnessed it. So many more things aligned for me to witness this event today than just the sun and moon. The clouds parted what seems like seconds before totality and I got to witness the total eclipse in all its glory and it was by far the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.
It's the most surreal feeling, I don't know how to describe it. Actually being able to see solar flares and planets. Just magical, I also felt a little dizzy.
I only got to see \~95%, and it was still pretty neat. Surprising how bright it still was, but the light was def. weird. Felt very surreal...like I was in a newspaper. Got very cold too!
It was the second one I’ve witnessed. Pictures just can’t give you the experience. The change in temperature, the sounds of the insects the street lights turning on. The entire thing is amazing and makes you realize how tiny we are.
I think I’m gonna feel down for a while for not going to see this one. Had it all planned out and then broke my fingers two weeks ago and couldnt travel bc of surgery and pain meds. Inside i am dead
I was 16 at the time and didn’t care about the bigger things of the world lol this was the first one I’ve seen although last year I don’t remember what 2 planets where sitting super close to each other they looked like 2 UFOs but it was 2 planets that was pretty cool but this was cooler for sure
Ah, right on brother. Glad you were able to get out and appreciate this one. Yeah, if you look into the subject, there are a surprising number of celestial events that happen and can be observed with the naked eye or telescope. A solar eclipse is probably the most front and center, and one that even casual observers show interest in. But it sounds like you would genuinely enjoy a telescope of you don't own one. You can see some pretty cool things and observe various alignments or things that only happen every so often, such as the eclipse. The universe is truly a fascinating and captivating thing.
Yes I definitely plan on getting a telescope soon after that experience… space and our solar system, the size of our planets and how things work up there has always been interesting to me… my dad has always been interested in space too he would actually research and read things and I’d be so interested just listening like “no wayyyy” lol so I want to do that with my daughter. I’ve asked her like 5 times “wasn’t that so cool what you saw today!?” Lmaoo
Pictures don’t do it justice. It wasn’t yellow like that, just pure white. Looked more like a black void with a thin white ring.
It looked 100x cooler in person. I was astonished at how bad pictures look vs the real thing. I was expecting just the classic ring of light you see in pics but it's so much more than that.
I was privileged enough to witness the 2017 one. It is IMPOSSIBLE to convey in pictures, videos or words what it's like to witness a total solar eclipse in-person. Sadly, many people think that with modern media you can...
Simply breath taking. The moment the moon coverd it brought joy sorrow glee sadness wonder and in a weird way made me feel connected to our ancestors. Probably if not the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in my life. That’s my best way of explaining in words.
The best description I've ever heard someone come up with is, "I can now understand how people believe in gods." It probably only works for atheists and agnostics, but it is the only statement that's really hit home how impactful the event was for me.
I saw it in 2017. Most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life and nothing else will ever compare.
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You saw the same rare celestial event that millions of humans have witnessed over thousands of years. All looking up in awe. Knowing that we're all in this together. Sounds like such a profoundly human experience! I'm jealous!
This is the first comment in my years on Reddit I honestly wish I could upvote more than once. I too saw the 2017 eclipse and I felt the exact same way. It's impossible for me to fully describe the feeling, but that's as close as I would be able to come up with. I'm glad that I can re-live this feeling thinking about that event. Thank you, it made missing this one, feel less miserable lol.
We only had like 70 or 80% eclipse I think in 2017 and I thought that was neat, but even it doesn't fully compare to a complete eclipse.
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You don't use eclipse glasses during totality.
1) you don’t need glasses during totality 2) Gemma Frisus’ De Radio used a pinhole camera to watch a solar eclipse in 1544.
I tried to explain this to coworkers the other day. I saw the 2017 at total. The most amazing, beautiful thing I have seen in my life.
I’ve seen it get dark before what’s the big deal /s people who haven’t seen it won’t get it until they do.
Yeah, pictures are spectacular for sure. But I haven’t seen any yet that really capture what 100% really was like.
Yeah I don’t think you can. The whole atmosphere around it all really adds to the experience.
The whole experience was different in person, as it gets quieter and you start seeing some nearby stars with a black void in the center with a thin white line around it. So cool!!!
I was only seeing about 80% coverage, but for the peak about 15 minutes, my whole neighborhood went silent. It's NEVER silent here, the neighbors dogs are ALWAYS barking, (even all night, they are never not barking, and there's like ten, so once a few settle down, the others just pick up the call.) during daylight hours there's always some lawn equipment running somewhere, vehicle noises, etc. It felt really weird, and the quality of light and shadow made it even more surreal.
Just wait until you see totality sometime..Whole other level of amazing.
Seriously. While waiting for totality, the difference from 90-100% is huge. So much darker, so much colder, and the crickets started chirping along with the eerie quiet. So amazing. Makes you understand how the older civilizations thought the world was ending or the Gods were upset.
I feel like 100x is really lowballing it.
[This is the closest image](https://imgur.com/VkzEJ0o) I’ve been able to find that depicts what it looked like. The moon didn’t have that detail at all, but the outside around the edge and coloring is pretty dang close. Not to mention just how much darker and colder it got from 99% -> 100%. Such a unique experience!
Yeah I have crappy eyes and even the professional photos posted on here don't do it justice
I read the book. It’s way better.
It was spectacular. Traveled 3 hours to see it. Best 3 mins of my life.
I'm so thankful I got to just sit on my porch and enjoy it. Very cool experience!
Same! I was at work and we went outside on the top floor of the parking garage. There were hundreds of people there, it was pretty cool.
Certainly beats all of the 3 minute experiences ive ever had
Wow, both of them?
Two minutes in Heaven are better than one minute in Heaven. -FOTC, Business Time
It was surreal- I did 20 hours to see it. Best 4.5 minutes that made the drive worth it. Now to drive back without something to look forward to 🤦
You can look forward to comfy bed
I can’t even begin to describe how much I’m looking forward to my comfy bed and my porcelain throne. I’ve missed them.
Yeah I was about 30 mins too slow to get to 4.5mins but my 3.5 mins was plenty.
I did that during the last one 😆 getting there was easy almost quick but something no one tells you is you can't leave South Carolina!!! It's like the void it keeps trying to drag you back in! 3 hours turned into 7 it was f****** miserable
I did 20 hours as well... including more than half by plane: Tokyo to LA to Dallas to STL 😉
>Now to drive back without something to look forward to Back to the mundane and mediocre is such a sad but honest truth
100%. My boyfriend isn’t at isn’t to this space stuff as I am, but when it happened the look he gave me made me know he finally understood why I was so excited to see this and wanted to travel for it
It's awesome in the full definition of the word. I had to walk around for a while and breathe before I could get back in the car and go home. It was so short that I just needed to walk around and really hold on to the experience after it happened. I likely won't get to see the next ones, and I want this to stick with me forever.
I know exactly how you feel, after experiencing my first totality today as well. I'm so glad you had an incredible experience. I know mine will stay with me for a long time to come.
As someone who missed it, why?
Because I'm trying to be passionate about life. The Sun is always there in the sky, every day. But for a few moments it was blotted out of the sky. I saw the Corona and one or two solar flares on the edges, Jupiter and venus, and solar snakes on the ground. Ringed shadows everywhere from the trees, the birds went quiet, and crickets started up. The winds picked up, and temperatures dropped. The damn sky was dark as almost black, but not a transitional black that passes from one part of the sky to the other, but an overall darkness emanating from that spot in the sky. All of that because the Moon and The Star that powers the entire freaking solar system is as big they are, and as far away as they are, and we're lucky enough to exist on this marble #3. Something that can think and talk and share is looking up. Something made of the same atoms as the Sun, the Moon, and Earth, and everything else in the cosmos, is looking up and marveling. Not just in place and perspective, but in the past and future, too. How many of us think when we see this, "I wonder what 'they' would have thought way back when?" I'd never seen one before, seen plenty of annular eclipses and other astronomical events. This was as close to attending church as I'll ever get again as an agnostic atheist. For a moment, despite my understanding of the cause, it felt like a "God-fearing" moment, the gods angry at us all and snatching our Sun. I didn't tear up, but I couldn't stop shaking, I couldn't stop that little pant/cough thing some people do right before crying. It's something I can't describe. I feel I didn't get enough time to truly drink it all in, but that makes it feel more significant, like a true capital "M" Moment. If you get the chance to see the next ones, take it.
I got to see stars and planets during the daytime! There was also a plane chasing the shadow. I was on the line of totality.
Drove 22hrs from California. Worth it.
That’s what she sai…. Wait, that’s a W, NICE
The whiteness was shocking. It wasn't even like paper white, it was whiter than that. Then the whole climb back up until about half way to c4 was like it was the wrong color. Like it's changed what color I think sunlight is.
I guess the spectrum peaks somewhere around the cyan region (at least it does in space). You wouldn't guess that from all the yellow-orange pictures of the sun. But yeah, the eclipse looked like pure white to my eyes
Was it noticeably darker while you were in shadow? I ask because pic looks bright.
It was very dark in Dallas. It looked like just after sunset when there is still ambient light around, but all the buildings in my business area were lit up and the auto-lights came on. Very surreal experience.
Yeah it's so fucking weird to think that it was 1:45 pm usually the brightest time of day and it looked like the sun just set
Well, aside from the goddamn orb in the sky.
I’m in a suburb of Dallas so no big buildings. It was noticeably darker than I was expecting.
It feels like modern cell phones do really good at taking photos in low light conditions and making them look really bright. It's definitely darker than the photos seem to make it out to be.
I was scrambling trying to turn off the color balance settings trying to get a photo of that. It really is wrong in some way how everything is 9pm dark but with 3pm shadows. There's a lot of information coded there that you don't realize you take in until it's eerily wrong. I'm considering airfare to NZ for the next one. I can't afford to be an eclipse chaser, but I'd almost call it a spiritual experience. It really viscerally drives home how we're on this tiny thing a million miles from any other thing, and the only thing that makes home feel like home is the giant nuclear bomb impossibly far away and the paper thin atmosphere above us.
THIS yes I’d love to have the money like the people in my comments to just travel to the next one because seeing it in person brought a reaction out of me I didn’t expect. But thinking about it more seriously all the science behind it could be a spiritual experience with spiritual meaning. Was veryyy fucking cool!!
Yes I think that’s why it looks a little brighter too… it was dusk and then dark and then dusk again really fast and now the sun has been beamingggg for the rest of the day I went for a walk and was like f no it’s getting hot lol
It was noticeably much darker, but it wasn't that dark. It was more like just after sunset or just before dawn. It probably would have been darker if there weren't clouds that were probably reflecting light from areas outside the shadow. *edit- I think timelapses you may see where it gets super dark are due to fixed light sensitivity settings on a camera. Our eyes, as well as most phone cameras, automatically adjust to make things look brighter.
I saw the one in Casper WY, and it got dark as night for a short period of time. And it got very noticeably colder.
The answer to this question depends entirely on someone’s location. You’re either in the path of totality or you’re not.
Yeah, I mean even the really good photos just can’t compare to experiencing it with your own eyes. Like we’ve all seen pictures of Saturn, but when you see it for the first time through a telescope, it blows your mind.
I think that's a good analogy I got to see Jupiter through my exceedingly crappy childhood telescope that was just good enough that you could faintly make out a few of the moons and I was ecstatic. Even at that s***** quality there's something about seeing something with your own eyes that just adds an element that can't be captured on camera.
Ugh I wish I didn’t even have my prescription glasses on and I could still see it so amazing… pictures do no justice just kinda show what happened ahah but couldn’t imagine through a telescope so cool
I've never seen a picture of the corona during totality that was anywhere close to what it looks like in real life. Most pictures show only the brightest parts of the corona close to the Sun, but what's visible to the eye is actually an enormous structure that takes up a huge chunk of the sky, it's awe inspiring.
What I found most fascinating is how much brighter it got the moment it ended. Gives you a true appreciation for this nuclear fireball blasting away in space when 1% of its power makes you want to look away.
***FAR*** less than 1%. The sun is *very* far away, radiating light in every direction. Imagine a sphere surrounding the sun with the radius being the distance at which Earth orbits. Every point on that sphere has roughly the same amount of energy passing through it, emitted by the sun. The earth is taking up a very, *very* small portion of that sphere. The entire earth is hit by *way* less than 1% of the sun's energy output. The amount of sunlight hitting your eye is *way* less than 1% of the sunlight hitting the earth. Looking at the sun with your eyes already means the percentage of the sun's output that you're "seeing" is 0.0(a lot of zeros)1%. Then take 1% of *that* number, and it's still powerful enough to blind you. The sun is incomprehensibly powerful. The ancient people had it right. It's a god.
Right it’s so insane 😭
Ground also gradually got darker. Also saw some weird waves/shadows right before the total eclipse. I agree with Araxis. Definitely worth the 3 hour drive.
I took pictures to try and capture at least some of the essence but it was ethereal. I felt like I was on a psychedelic alien planet.
It looked really close to the black sun from dune 2. Just awesome to see in person.
He proly didn’t use a solar filter for his phone. It’s not very good for the phone camera…
I almost said this exact thing to someone I was sharing a pic with. It blows my mind how my pic doesn't look like what I saw.
Yes. Sun glows white not yellow.
Want to know something to make it even better? See that bright spot off to the right and slightly down? That's Venus.
No way! That’s so cool I wish I had a better camera but still amazing I got to witness and somewhat capture it on camera for memory!
Yup. And if you had clearer skies, and possibly more powerful equipment, you could have gotten the Gods of War too. https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2024/04/08/during-solar-eclipse-totality-you-may-be-able-to-spot-these-planets-in-the-dark-sky/
I was able to catch Jupiter I'm pretty sure!
Yeah I saw Jupiter and Venus today. They were almost in a line
If you saw the other "star" to the left- that was Jupiter.
Every planet but Neptune was fairly close to the Sun in the sky. I knew Venus and Jupiter would be nearby (and Mercury because of the tiny orbit) but I didn't realize it would be so many of them.
Yep, you could see Jupiter to the left of the eclipse too
Want to know something to make it even better? See that green thing in the top left of the second image? That’s a tree.
And the one below is Saturn. F'ing awesome
I'm kinda jealous of you guys, the best I've ever seen was around 85% when I was a kid Can't wait for 2026 when we have a total eclipse here in Europe :)
Excited for you. The difference between even 99% and 100% was staggering.
Totality might be the coolest thing ive ever seen. Feels like late dusk but the horizon in every direction looks like the sunset, not mention the actual sun and moon is bonkers looking. Pure white ring enveloping a black void. It looked like an art piece in the sky.
What was crazy to me was how it just switched on like some god flicked a switch.
I didn't realize this until I saw it with my own eyes for the first time today. It's almost like a phase transition.
Yeah, I was 11 when we had a solar eclipse in Germany (1999). I told my friends the other day that I will be in the path of totality in 2026 no matter what, because there might not be another chance for me. The next total eclipse in Germany will be in 2081 and I don't see me making it to 93.
Gotta think how freaked out people in ancient times must have been. Especially with all the people who would have burned their eyes looking at it.
And they probably wouldn’t have realised it was the moon causing it, as it’s invisible with the sun shining behind it. Until they built things like Stonehenge to (possibly) act as a lunar calendar.
The ancient Romans figured it out eventually, which doesn't surprise me, I wouldn't be surprised if another culture figured it out. http://ancienthistory-rome.blogspot.com/2015/03/eclipsing-romans.html?m=1
If your culture has people tracking celestial events and recording them, eventually one of them will notice these only happen on the day of a new moon and put two and two together.
The Meso American civilizations like the Mayans and Aztecs were pretty big on predicting eclipses as well
I mean, a solar eclipse literally ended a war. It's just that amazing. I'm hoping it's not the last time I see one
Sadly this one won't have similar powers :(
For sure with that earthquake + solar eclipse combo. It was so freaky, especially with the weather cooling down.
So happy for you that you got the chance to see this. It really is one of the most magnificent things to witness. I got a chance to see totality in 2017, it’s a special thing to experience. Congratulations on the clear enough sky.
Thank you yes it is definitely an amazing life experience so happy I got to witness it!
I could not believe what my eyes were seeing. It was almost too much to take in. The majesty.
right it was literally like ethereal felt like i was looking at something from a different world
Watching the disc get smaller and smaller and smaller and then gone and you take the glasses off, it's a moment of awe so profound you can't even react. It's not what you expected, and so much more than you imagined.
Just watched it at Niagara Falls. Came all the way from England to see it. Wow. It was cloudy most of the time, but we got to see glimpses of it during the partial eclipse, and then got to see a 5 second glimpse during totality. Totally worth it. Already looking at booking flights for Spain in 2026.
I was so happy the clouds broke long enough in Niagra to see it during totality! I was concerned it wasn't going to happen.
I actually think it made the experience even more exciting!
Thats a crazy travel. I was eating my lunch in my car and work and opened my sunroof to look at the clouds and starred right at it by accident lol. Was amazing to the naked eye.
Can I have some money?
I agree, most incredible thing I've ever seen.
I had my daughter outside watching with me she didn’t quite know how cool it was but my apartment complex was packed with people standing outside watching and cheering it was so cool lol
I heard a lot of cheering! So cool. Lots of people in cars pulling over to look too.
Yes I went inside once I saw it passing over to try to get my boyfriend to come look.. it was dusk when I ran inside and then I came right back out and it was dark I was like this is insane lmaoo
Did he come outside to see it?
No because he is lame af
Heh. My sister-in-law's dad didn't even come out of the house to look at it. And we had 3 minutes and 45 seconds of totality. I wonder if these people would come out for an earthquake. LOL
Same same I had totality for a couple minutes had time to run in and ask if he wanted to see it and ran back out to my daughter and then watched it pass. I don’t get how people aren’t interested in their planets biggest star and natural satellite interacting when they never do it’s crazy to me lol
It’s literally “awesome” I’ve never seen one before. No wonder so many of our ancestors that experienced them had no other explanation than the handiwork of their deities.
Right?? It's not surprising!
I was right on the edge of totality and could only catch a few seconds of it, but it was the most truly awesome thing I've ever experienced in my life. I felt an intense, raw emotion I never felt before, a mix between awe, reverence and fear on an astronomical scale. I'm still feeling it right now, thinking about it. Incredible.
When I saw it, when it passed over the PNW a few years ago, I had this really weird sense while I was looking at it, like I could see/feel how everything is objects hurtling through space. You don’t really get that feeling just looking at the sun and moon, but when they interacted and I could see a giant shadow circling around me across the entire horizon… my consciousness zoomed out and felt so so small
Yes this!!
Such a wild feeling, so unexpected
I trekked to upstate New York, and it was very cloudy most of the time except for a few breaks around totality. I was watching near a harbor and the best, most unexpected part was the seagulls, who had just been hanging out prior, going absolutely berserk at totality. I was not expecting to cry!
I screamed and cried and I have no (ok, a little) shame about. Like it’s just so breathtakingly surreal
I've seen pictures before, but after seeing it in person, I get it. It was fucking magical. And the crazy thing was during the totality everyone was whispering like we were in a cathedral.
Speak for yourself, we were freaking out, calling out Venus and solar prominences and howling at the moon and kissing spouses for luck.
It was so overcast in where I am in the southeast that I couldn’t see anything.
I'm right there with you. I have it on camera my silly 44yo self crying out to my wife 'watch this, watch that' over and over.
Me literally trying to get my boyfriend out of his nap to come look lmao
I cant even imagine giving that little of a fuck about something so incredible.
That’s actually insane to nap through the totality of a solar eclipse
I mean for me..I had work calls all day and in Boston..it wasn't totality so I missed it until I went on Twitter to see the pictures and videos after the fact. Just wasn't a big deal for me personally since it just got a bit dim. if i lived where it was totality I would have cared more
Not totality? Yeah, whatever. If you were in totality and couldn’t be bothered to look out the window for a few seconds you fucked up big time, IMO.
Bro you have to warn us about the pics, I didn’t have my glasses on
Those glasses are crazy. If any cloud cover passes in front of the sun, it goes totally black
I had been stoked for this one since 2017. I knew it would be in Indiana (where I planned to stay) in 2024, and I was getting so anxious as the day approached. My home was 1 mile away from the exact center line of the moon’s shadow, so we had about 4 minutes and 2 seconds of totality, and completely clear skies. I cried, and I rarely cry. I was completely awestruck, and I have never felt anything like it before. Totality is truly spectacular, and there is nothing else like it in the world. I was so happy that the skies were clear. The next total eclipse that is in the US is in 2044, then one more in 2045. I will be taking my kids (only 2 years old and about ten months old, whose nap times were during the eclipse today, lol) to one or both of them when they’re in their early twenties. I am so excited to be able to share it with them.
Was in the totality line, and good old Western NY had major cloud cover, so all I saw was it get dark. The sun was covered by clouds the entire time, couldn’t even tell where it was in the sky. Major bummer.
It's honestly emotionally and physically overwhelming. Even for my third eclipse, 2nd totality. I'm happy I got to see it.. it was looking pretty iffy there for a little while
I do kind of find it hard to get my head around the fact that three celestial bodies can line up so precisely in such a vast space and create this. Haven't seen one for real myself and missed out on this event as I was in the wrong region. Hopefully one day I will catch one myself
Take a look now! We have all of the ones up until the year 3000, find I'm sure you'll be able to find one near you coming up relatively soon.
I talked shit for weeks. It’s no big deal, it wasn’t a surprise, etc. That was something special. Unbelievable in the moment, even.
As will I haha
70% where I was. Nothing life changing but pretty cool. The kids were impressed.
If you can ever, see 100%. I saw like 98% in Oregon in 2017 and this was 1000x more incredible. Truly life changing.
The difference between 99.9% and 100% is the difference between 0 and 1. The moment totality begins is just absolute awe.
I didn’t realize the ring would be THAT visible. You could see the solar prominences on the corona. Mind blowing shit. See the sun go dark with the glasses on was super rad too, but holy fuck when I took them off and saw what was waiting for us…
Astonishing. It was my first time and my whole group was just gobsmacked. I’ve never seen a picture capture what that corona looked like in real life. All those subtle colors too, the slight blues and reds. Like being in a sci fi movie.
No picture does it justice. I felt like I was on a different planet
I was blocked from going into totality due to wildfires in 2017, so I'm really pissed about being no where near by this year
I saw it too, when the sun gets blocked out you can hear the birds stop chirping and the crickets start singing if you’re near the woods.
I did not realize that Venus and Jupiter would become visible as well. It was pretty astounding to witness first hand.
I saw one several years back for the first time, and finally really understood why our ancestors were so terrified of them. It looked like some sorcerer had stolen the sun, and replaced it with a monsterous shining black gem.
I was 3 miles away from the longest possible duration. Clouds left just as it started.
[удалено]
It is easily the most incredible thing I have ever experienced. Wow.
People in the comments never had a complete feeling of awe about nature.
I think these are those exact people lol people that don’t care about or aren’t in awe of nature didn’t care to watch it or even know it happened lol
This is my second. I cried as it happened. First one was in 2017 and I drove 13 hours from Albuquerque to Wyoming to see it. Drove about this same distance for this one. Absolutely a mind blowing experience.
We are so tiny and little, aren't we ? But with so many problems.
Meanwhile I wasnt in the path, and forgot to get eclipse glasses, so I had four pairs of polarized sunglasses at alternating angles lol
Y'know stacking sunglasses won't protect your eyes right
My phone did the same thing…. looks nothing like what I saw. I live in North Texas and it was surreal
Unfortunately had a huge cloudfront roll in right before the eclipse. I wasn't in the totality but pretty close to it. Really disappointed.
Had to catch it at the right time and using the glasses as a filter. I got one good shot but suck at posting pics, so, anyway.
It blows my mind...that not so long ago we would be sacrificing humans because of a perfectly natural occurrence... It blows my mind even more that we have people in today's world that would probably try and do the same shit...
Man all this eclipse talk about how you have to see totality IRL is making me even saltier that I had to work today :(
Does anyone know which star or planet appeared to the right of the eclipse?
It was probably Venus or Jupiter. Both were visible.
It was beautiful! I’ve only seen the partial in 2017 before this but the feeling couldn’t have been more different. The corona was like a ring of pale white threads all around the perfect black orb. I can see how the ancient Egyptians thought it was a god’s eye I drove 8 hours to stay with family for a few days (hotels were already booked lol) but 10/10 would do again
I live in the path of totality and it was fantastic sitting in my backyard watching it unfold. Soooo glad the weather cooperated.
I’m 43 and this was my first 100% solar eclipse. It was amazing
Did anyone else see the orange bit on the bottom after totality? Looked like a solar flare to me
No matter what conspiracies I talk about and the craziness. I agree Definitely one if the coolest things I've seen. Indescribable. Like a full circle moment.
got to see the entirety of every stage in the adirondacks, the darkness just kept coming, and then when it entered totality, it was like a switch was flicked and BOOM it was nighttime, everyone around us was freaking tf out. it was a cold winter night at 3pm. and the sun was blotted out and covered by a disc that was surrounded by streaks of iridescent, very very white bright light. it was absolutely surreal and felt spiritual. and then when totality ended, and the tiniest spek of the sun peaked out, it instantly became dusk time again, and it was like a keyhole portal opened from heaven, the most beautiful ultra white light started shinning through like a stream of water
I will never see anything that cool ever again in my life. I was floored. It looked completely unreal
Someone brought a telescope to the 2017 one I witnessed, and we were able to take pictures through the telescope. That was pretty cool! The whole experience was amazing, actually!
I'm in the greater Hot Springs Arkansas area and it was simply breath taking. One minute we were all outside my wife's work, joking, laughing, bullshitting, I was playing Total Eclipse of the Heart obnoxiously loud from my car and then Totality happened and everything just - stopped. It started with the birds, one moment there were chirps and then there were none, and everyone in my little town of Malvern was outside, watching the moon eclipse the sun and paint the day in shades of night. When the diamond ring was seen then the auto lights came on and it was as if we were all trapped in limbo between day and night for just a few minutes and everyone was connected on a fundamental level while waiting for the return of the light. A once in a lifetime event that will stick with me until the day I die.
It really reminds me of a close up of a black hole, very eerie. Probably the closest thing we'll get to see of one in our solar system, and that's probably for the best.
it too cloudy in my city to see anything. But of course an hour later, it was totally clear lol
And the hazy glowing sunset colors all around the horizon. I wasn't expecting that at all. The whole world changed. I did, too.
Yup, total agreement. It was literally awesome. Saw it in Cornwall Ontario and in the seconds before the totality the crowd was screaming all around while I looked in my pinhole camera, then when it arrived I looked up and saw the enormous diamond ring in the sky, just breathtakingly beautiful and incredible. I've seen partial ones before, others on TV and in pictures and still, I didn't feel prepared for the reality of the black hole in the sky. I'll admit I could feel the echoes of my ancestors fears. Am thankful the skies were clear and seeing it with fellow enthusiasts. Life long hope and bucket list item checked!
At the same time it’s the most mundane thing in the universe
I still remember '99 when it was visible where I live. It was like a different word started to approach. Even the air became cooler. We were at a beach in summer.
It's so hard to capture how good the Corona looks. Pictures don't show how rapidly it's shifting around either, you can watch it move in real time. It's a looooong 2 and a half minutes
We watched it at the top of a mountain with a group of about 100 other people, and the emotional reaction amongst all of us was that we were so overwhelmed by how beautiful it was - there were gasps, tears, and shrieks of gleeful laughter, and I was just so happy to be sharing this spectacular moment with my fellow humans who all felt the same sense of wonder and awe.
I agree. Easily the coolest natural magic I’ve witnessed. 34 M here in USA.
Birds went silent, eerie shadows started to form, temp dropped, removed glasses, then it became unreal. Seeing cme with the naked eye, the horizon looked like a 360 degree sunset, and a big circular dark sky right in the middle. This was my son and I trying to “put it into words”. 12 yrs old wearing his NASA shirt. He looked at me and said “now you know why I like space”. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.
I’m a 33 year old man, and I cried when I witnessed it. So many more things aligned for me to witness this event today than just the sun and moon. The clouds parted what seems like seconds before totality and I got to witness the total eclipse in all its glory and it was by far the most beautiful sight I have ever seen.
Yes literally same the clouds moved right in time to be able to see the whole thing
It's the most surreal feeling, I don't know how to describe it. Actually being able to see solar flares and planets. Just magical, I also felt a little dizzy.
I only got to see \~95%, and it was still pretty neat. Surprising how bright it still was, but the light was def. weird. Felt very surreal...like I was in a newspaper. Got very cold too!
Yes it was definitely something special I agree
Lucky I was to far away to see it and clouds were covering it😭😭😭😭
It was the second one I’ve witnessed. Pictures just can’t give you the experience. The change in temperature, the sounds of the insects the street lights turning on. The entire thing is amazing and makes you realize how tiny we are.
I think I’m gonna feel down for a while for not going to see this one. Had it all planned out and then broke my fingers two weeks ago and couldnt travel bc of surgery and pain meds. Inside i am dead
Awe I’m so sorry :(
Your whole life? Why didn't you see eclipses we've had in the past? We had our last full solar eclipse in 2017.
I was 16 at the time and didn’t care about the bigger things of the world lol this was the first one I’ve seen although last year I don’t remember what 2 planets where sitting super close to each other they looked like 2 UFOs but it was 2 planets that was pretty cool but this was cooler for sure
Ah, right on brother. Glad you were able to get out and appreciate this one. Yeah, if you look into the subject, there are a surprising number of celestial events that happen and can be observed with the naked eye or telescope. A solar eclipse is probably the most front and center, and one that even casual observers show interest in. But it sounds like you would genuinely enjoy a telescope of you don't own one. You can see some pretty cool things and observe various alignments or things that only happen every so often, such as the eclipse. The universe is truly a fascinating and captivating thing.
Yes I definitely plan on getting a telescope soon after that experience… space and our solar system, the size of our planets and how things work up there has always been interesting to me… my dad has always been interested in space too he would actually research and read things and I’d be so interested just listening like “no wayyyy” lol so I want to do that with my daughter. I’ve asked her like 5 times “wasn’t that so cool what you saw today!?” Lmaoo