chromosphere and a large prominence around the edge of the Sun is quite a
sight to behold.
As your eyes slowly get used to the reduced light levels, the dim glow
of the corona begins to extend visually away from the Sun’s disc. The
appearance and form of the corona is magnetically influenced and varies
considerably depending on the current activity level of the Sun. The longer
totality lasts, the more accustomed to the view your eyes become and
eventually, you may see the corona extended away from the Sun for many
solar radii.
The temperature at this time drops noticeably and standing in the shadow
of the Moon looking up, it’s a rather humbling experience realising just how
reliant we all are on the output of the Sun.
Finally, after what seems like a ridiculously short period of time, the
bumpy edge of the Moon once again starts to let sunlight through. Bailey’s
beads once more appear along with a second diamond ring. This one is often
more dramatic than the first as your eyes will have become partially dark
adapted during totality. After a brief view, it’s time to don the protective filters
once again as the end of the eclipse plays out as a reverse of the first half. Ifthis is the first so called "diamond ring" of the eclipse. The drift of the Moon
continues until the Bailey’s Beads are also extinguished. After this time,
the eclipse must be viewed without a filter to get the best from it. With the
main disc of the Sun covered, features which are normally hidden from
direct vision become visible. One of the most striking is the appearance of
the chromosphere, a layer of hot hydrogen gas that sits above the normally
visible surface. This appears with a striking reddish-pink colour around the
Moon’s edge. The term "chromosphere" literally means "sphere of colour".
This is a time when it may also be possible to see prominences reaching
off the edge of the Sun too. These have the same red-pink colour as the[12] Third contact Diamond Ring effect. The instant when the total phase of the
eclipse ends.
[13] Long exposures combined with shorter exposures to reveal the corona
surrounding the eclipsed Sun. Note the features visible on the Moon’s earthshine lit
face using this technique.
[14] The Earth’s shadow covers the Moon during a total lunar eclipse. If you were on
the Moon’s surface looking back towards the Earth, you’d see the light from the Sun
forming a red ring around the edge of our planet. This is caused by the Earth’s atmosphere
scattering blue light and refracting (bending) the remaining red light to effectively infill the
dark shadow. From the Moon’s surface you’d witness a ring of sunrises and sunsets all
happening at the same time.1213Astronomer Book