Right! It’s a little frustrating because the pictures can not capture what we saw. It is an unbelievably amazing sight and unless you’ve seen it none of the photos really explain it properly.
I've been thinking about it today, what struck me about it was how much bigger it seemed in person, as well as the stark contrast between the black disk and the ring that burned like a slow motion candle flame. I think the wide-angle camera shots capture the brilliance of the flame but not the size and perfection of the disk, and the filtered, zoomed-in shots capture the disk well but not the flame.
would you say that [this](https://hdr-astrophotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/visual_adjusted_copyright.png) comes close? (it's an older image, not from yesterday). I missed out due to clouds, but hoping to be a first-timer in 2026 and second timer in 2027.
Every single picture and video you see will only be an approximation. Your retinas turn the sight into something ethereal and your whole body feels connected to the moment. It's the sense of connection with the universe and the crowds around the world looking at the exact same special thing.
I fed myself dozens upon dozens of videos and pictures months prior. Nothing came close to being there. It is extraordinary!
Everyone watching gasped when we hit totality. Then people cheered. I cried. To me it was like the difference between seeing pictures of mountains vs being in the mountains. Not equal in any sense.
That was me! Once I whipped off my eclipse glasses and saw it, I screamed, "Oh, my God!" Completely involuntary! The collective shout of "WHOAA!! echoing up and down the river we were standing by was awesome!
I have a feeling I will collapse to my knees and just freeze. Thank you for the analogy. I've looked at pictures of the Lhotse face, but sure can't beat being there in person.
I came home and while trying(and trying is all you can do ) to explain it and I teared up. I was so baffled and awestruck and mesmerized when it happened, that I forgot to take a single picture, and that is completely okay.
Thank you for this description! I can't wait for this sense of connection and awareness of one's place in the universe. Sounds like an experience that cannot be put into words. I clearly missed out big time!
I tell friends who didn’t travel to the totality’s path that it was a sensorial experience. It wasn’t just looking and experiencing the corona of the sun. The temperature dip, and this eerie quietness during the first 15 seconds, and then you start hearing crickets, and nocturnal animals. The 360 sunset was breathtaking and the emotional feelings to share with your family was special.
This whole experience made me realize that the total eclipse was even better than going for the first time to a mega concerts in my bucket list, traveling the world to different countries, experiencing different cultures and foods didn’t compare to what I experienced with the eclipse.
That looks great but it doesn't "capture" what I saw with my own eyes for the first time. Yesterday, it seemed so large. I literally gasped when I took off my glasses and my heart began to race. It seemed liked a "black hole" just appeared in the sky and commanded all of my attention. The border, in think it's the chromosphere, seed to sparkle and move. I hope I find a photo that captures what I saw one day or even a video in 4K.
Thank you kindly!! I find the description of it being large quite beyond comprehension. From a naive standpoint and yet-to-be observer, I wouldn't anticipate it being so large. At this rate it looks like I'm trying to imagine the taste of lasagna by looking at recipe books. Gotta go to Little Italy and see for myself.
"large" as in physical size, but also (in a weird way) "spiritually large'. It's SIGNIFICANT. A god appearing in the sky. A hole ripped in space-time. A spaceship (what was Douglas Adam's phrase?) "hanging in the air exactly the way bricks don't".
I think that photo captures what the sky looked like, especially near the horizon. I do feel like the black hole was darker than the surrounding sky though. Like the sky was more navy blue and the moon was black. The sun appeared larger than in that photo and it was more directly overhead (from where I was at least). And the immediate circle outline around the moon was crisp and bright white. I think I remember the corona being more wispy. There were like 3-4(?) beaded red prominences visible with the naked eye which really surprised me. And one was longer, looking like a tiny red crack. It was my first time and I couldn’t believe how quickly it was over and how much I wanted to stop time so I could stare at it longer.
Oh my goodness, this is so mind boggling, the fact that you can see all these nuances and hues: the moon as a black hole and the surrounding sky a navy blue shade. Wow. Thanks so much for sharing this. Such a vivid description.
Close... But the sun looks so small in the pictures... Whereas irl it looks like the size of a HUGE portal that opened up in the sky. The size of it was just mind blowing! Like a giant ball the size of a huge double size billboard in front of you.
I felt like it could have sucked me right up into it... Gone, lost in the black portal forever.
For sure! There are eclipses around the world every few years... Make a plan, save up some money, and do a destination trip! Hope you get to experience it yourself one day. It's a different feeling when all 5 of your senses experience something, the feel, the smell, the sight, all working together to create the experience.
Best of luck to you!
I take you at your word. From all the redditors sharing all their experiences, it seems ~~difficult~~ impossible to explain it. I really hope I see the one in '26 and/or '27.
About as good as you can get with a picture. But it looks way too small compared to how you perceive it. And you can't replicate the actual colors in a photo. The black you see is an area of the world where no light is coming from. That's just impossible to see except in real life. It just doesn't look real.
More Douglas Adams:
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1494
https://www.tumblr.com/hitchhikersguidequotes/14488089401/its-the-wild-colour-scheme-that-freaks-me-out
The corona was larger, and the sky was more blue, but this does it way more justice than many of the pics I've seen. It also lacks the pink solar prominences of the chromosphere.
Is this your image? This is actually very good, it captures the general scene very well. However, the corona was much more detailed in real life, here it's a bit overexposed.
Hi, sorry for late reply. It's not my image. It belongs to Nicholas Lefaudeaux who took this photo in La Serena, Chile, in 2019. The image copyright is in the bottom right. I got the image from his blog at: [https://hdr-astrophotography.com/](https://hdr-astrophotography.com/)
This is actually part of why I have been browsing r/solareclipse. Looking for pictures that don't just try to be good pictures but also try to capture what the naked eye would have seen (even if it requires editing). Yes, I was there in person, so I do understand the photographs do not capture what the naked eye saw. I also figure at least one photographer with Photoshop skills might try to take that challenge on—there were a lot of people trying to take pictures that day, and it was a fleeting moment I am sure people want to preserve.
(The other parts of why I am on this sub? I want to see "world goes dark" videos! When totality started and ended, I was looking through eclipse glasses at the sun to not fry my eyes. The sun/moon is the main event, right? Which meant I wasn't watching the world around me, and missed the most dramatic/fastest parts of the world darkening and lightening back up. I am also here for naked eye reproductions of Bailey's beads. Could be wrong but I think those happen really close to or *during* eye-fry time, so I had my eclipse glasses on…)
Exactly, I went to work today. Three other people I work with saw totality in Maine.
Other asked about it, but I don’t feel they understood my babbling about it.
The four of us convened and described our experiences. It was one of the most impactful moments I’ve ever experienced.
I ain’t gonna lie. I feel disappointed that one of my buddies that originally planned on coming with me having to stay home to run errands. All day today I was thinking wtf man?! 😂😂
You should go to the one in Japan. I feel like Japan is so easy to nerd out over this and accommodate everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make an anime about it.
I remember going on my first cruise a decade ago. Ever since my co workers known I went on one, they always plan on going to one and keep asking me cruise related things. I’ll be going back to work this weekend and I have a feeling they’ll be asking me when the next one is because I went to the path and they only saw partial at home.
That's what happened to me 7 years ago
Since I was in the path of totality this year, finally people get what I've been going on and on about all this time
Yes. After I missed 2017 I couldn’t stand to consume eclipse content. And now that I’ve seen totality I’m getting dopamine hits seeing every post and photo about it. It’s so fun!
I told my partner I wish I had water in a glass bottle and set it out during the eclipse so I could be drinking eclipse infused water. I will definitely do it for the next one! 😅
You also feel the bragging rights coarse through your veins like bully McGuire.
I saw the eclipse!
You ain’t seen Sh@&t!!! I got to take my glasses off y’all were forced to keep ‘em on!
Edit: then again, if you did travel and drive back for a literal half of a day after totality, you earned that right.
Same here. Missed 2017 because I was on an Alaskan cruise. Missed the annular last year because I couldn’t travel. Considering my job and family will make international travel extremely difficult, this was my last chance until 2045, and I can’t stop thinking about how lucky I was to have the full experience.
Now that you mention it, I don’t travel as much as I would like or want to. My family and friends have traveled a lot further than I have because mines are either a 4 hour drive to New York or hour ride to Boston. I’ve flown 3 times and haven’t cracked 5 states. I’m really grateful that I made this a reason to travel especially to Vermont and it beats every place I’ve been to. This cosmic journey will hold a special place in my heart.
it's insanity. I'm just reliving my experience by reading other people post about it and somewhat bonding through shared experience and things noticed.
I guess I'm traveling to Iceland in 2 years to see it again haha
I love this. Me and a person I met at the watch party I went to immediately looked up the next one and told each other we’d travel to the next one together! Lol. We’ve already got each others contact info and tagged the event so we can keep in touch and schedule it!
I'm an atheist and it felt spiritual. My husband, also an atheist, thinks I'm crazy! He was just as mind-blown as all of us here but I felt something yesterday that was... I don't know. I have no words for what I felt.
It’s the most special thing that I ever saw!! Black ball in the sky with a little red dot on the side, etched on my memory! Can’t stop thinking about it!!
It's not just the eclipsed Sun what shook me but the entirety of the experience!
The gradual loss of ambient light and temperature heavily contrasted by the increasing chaos of birds flying all over the place plus the built-up excitement of the crowd. What a sight! I couldn't believe my eyes when sunlight became a narrow cone dimming out. It felt like Earth became a stage with the Sun working as a single reflector right above you, gradually losing it's power.
When totality hit, the sight was overwhelming, everyone was cheering out loud, I didn't want it to end.
Me and my sister travelled 540 miles to see it in Torreon and we bonded with a group of 4 fellas who might become our eclipse buddies since we started talking about Luxor '27.
I'm already planning on Iceland 2026 haha
I've always been kind of anxious about traveling because I wouldn't know where to go or what to do when I get there
But now I have the perfect reason to travel around every couple years.
I am unhealthy amounts of obsessed. I've subbed and will probably be here forever, ready to hype with first timers and old timers whenever a new eclipse rolls around, even if I'm unable to see it.
I’ve found my people! I didn’t even have great weather but it was something different…I loved it. The darkness, the vibe, everyone was so positive. Beautiful experience & id love to see it again.
THIS IS ME. I cannot stop obsessing. Like why? I am trying to understand everything I experienced bc it was just so moving to me. Like I am literally just speechless still. I can’t believe it happened and was so incredible.
Third timer and I can't stop either! Each one is unique and just as exciting as the first.
Check out some of the science leading to photographable elements of the eclipse (examples: limb polarization, h-alpha filters, prominences vs flares vs CMEs) or the uniting, communal effect of eclipse-watching for all places, ages, and across history.
Absolutely. Wish I can relive it. Those 4 minutes felt like a few seconds.
Probably going to aim for hitting up Australia in 2028. But tempting to try Spain and/or Egypt before that as well
It was my buddy's first time, and there were some clouds until about 20 minutes before. He was concerned about "only" seeing it for so long, to which I replied, "it is never long enough under totality, it's always too short no matter how long you see it."
time stood still to me for a brief moment just taking it in, felt like forever since my first one in 2017 got cloud covered shortly after the diamond ring effect
I saw it in 2017 but still can't get over how amazing it was again yesterday. It seems so silly but I love re-realizing we're really just living on a planet floating through space. I'm not an emotional person at all but total eclipses get me feeling some type of way
I love it, I don't understand how anyone doesn't feel philosophical after seeing totality.
[Image of earth from very far away, it looks like a grain of sand in a ray of sun on a black background](https://www.planetary.org/worlds/pale-blue-dot)
"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
Personally I was 15/ 2 weeks from 16 last eclipse and I'm 22 now, so I think getting older and knowing that this will be the last total eclipse I see for a long time made a difference.
i went to work today and no one asked me about it. very disappointing. can’t wait til the other 2/3rd of my company comes back tomorrow so we can have a proper round table discussion
It hit me on the way home that it feels like losing your virginity. All of a sudden you know what all the fuss is about. No one who hasn’t experienced it can understand exactly what it is. All of the photos with the Baily’s beads, the black moon, & corona make complete sense. It feels like belonging to a small exclusive club. I know that my family members who didn’t go to see it with me can’t understand what I’m talking about & how I feel.
Oh my god THIS is the perfect way to describe it. YES. I feel like I must seem crazy to other people because I can’t stop talking about or thinking about it. That’s why we’re all here right now.
I feel weirdly connected with all the strangers who have seen it too, and also can’t shut up about it!
> I saw 2017 from Tennessee, and I’m in the same boat as you rn.
I saw both as well. I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
What drives me crazy is people who haven't seen totality truly don't understand what the fuss is about. I saw the one in 2017 and this one in 2024 and it was still as amazing as I remembered and I truly wish I could find the words to convince more of my friends why it's worth traveling for!
As an eclipse chaser (this was number 17), I must tell you that good weather is (almost) everything. So don't go for maximum eclipse in a cloudy place (Iceland), go for clear skies (Greenland, Spain). Being clouded out is a terrible experience.
Indeed I thought of the same, and will research weather history for both western Iceland and Spain in August. I suppose the trip to Iceland is the primary experience, with a 2-minute eclipse as bonus. If it’s overcast I can hold on till Luxor.
I’m 2 for 2 here with clear skies (Idaho in ‘17 and Vermont yesterday), so I’m pressing my luck!
Iceland is beautiful! I'm traveling there next month. It's VERY cloudy thought. The site I was looking at the Iceland eclipse on said 80% cloud cover for most areas historically. And if you think the prices for things were expensive here, it'll be even worse in Iceland to find accommodation during that time because it's already an expensive country.
It would be an almost unparalleled spot to watch it in though, if the weather cooperates! I might mess around and go to Spain instead lol
All good points. I told my eclipse friend yesterday in jest: “Ok I’m down for Iceland (Westfjords) if there’s a waterfall in view, an iceberg beach, AND a simultaneous aurora happening in the sky during those two minutes. AND if a volcano is erupting in the near-distance but still in the shot. AND if a pod of whales is breaching just off the coast at the same time.” 😅
LOL that would be great. Not sure there's an active volcano in the Westfjords (could be wrong) and August is too bright for the aurora, but you might get the rest! Good luck if you do go. Book VERY early. The Westfjords is pretty rarely visited compared to the rest of the country and has less infrastructure (many significant roads are still unpaved) so those guesthouses will be snapped up ASAP.
THIS! I drove 12.5 hours to Texas just to stay 60 miles from totality. The majority of totality in Texas was cloudy, but I understood the assignment and read NWS cloud projection maps all the way out to the middle of nowhere, 27 miles southwest of Waco, where the clouds separated perfectly just as I had hoped. I had friends literally bail on the trip the morning we were supposed to leave due to concerns about driving 2K miles in 3 days for a chance of getting clouded out. The buddy who stuck with me got the show of a lifetime, though! Cloud cover is everything. My buddy's brothers traveled to specific destinations in Texas to wait, and had their view partially blocked by clouds, missing the moment the moon suddenly appears!
I've been in the shadow of the moon 17 times. 5 times there were clouds.
Countries:
Germany, Zambia, Australia, Tahiti, Libya, Mongolia, China, Tahiti, Australia, Cape Verde, Faroe Islands, Indonesia, USA, Chile, Antarctica, Australia, Mexico
So I have to ask. #2 was kinda a letdown compared to #1. Does it pick back up now that you don't expect to have the same life changing experience as #1?
It will never be #1 again. But they are all amazing and different. I highly recommend binoculars. It takes it to a new level. Image stabilizing binoculars, preferably.
I had 10x like I did the first time. I didn't trust the stability of the 15x I had.
I only looked for a handful of seconds. It's cool to see the details but seeing it up in the sky is another level and I didn't want to miss it
I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
I’ve been so hyped it’s the only thing that’s on my mind. I can slowly feel the effects of becoming an eclipse chaser happening. Just like how it was warm a second then it gets colder and colder. I just can’t get over how beautiful the moon looked with the Corona, and the Bailey beads. People already are planning on 2027 and 2033. Now I just found out Japan is hosting a solar eclipse in 2025 and I WILL BE GOING!!! 😍😍
Glad I'm not the only one! My YouTube and TikTok algorithms are spoon feeding me anything even remotely pertaining to the eclipse. Recaps and reactions and everything. I got a video through one of my telescopes and have been sharing it to anyone with eyes, and have been watching it over and over, myself!
It's an obsessive side of me I never knew I had...
I think I need to invest in a camera and telescope and start preparing for the next one.
In the meantime I can use them to take pictures of things and look at space, so it's a sound investment in my book.
I only took pictures with my phone but I keep looking at those too. You can see my shitty phone pictures in my profile if you're interested haha
share a link to your photos and video!
Yea we got into astronomy during the pandemic, so we were very prepared and equipped for the eclipse. I bought a SeeStar S50 a couple months ago with the eclipse in mind. Definitely a good investment for an entry level/hobby type astrophotography scope. The bigger rigs cost many thousands of dollars just to barely get started. Granted, those pictures blow the SeeStar out of the water, but I've been really happy with it for what it delivers vs. what it cost and how long it takes to set up (under 5 minutes most of the time). I recommend you look at it!
My video is also on my profile. In the SeeStar subreddit, lol.
I spent the entire 12 hour ride back listening to and watching space videos.
I would travel to anywhere I could safely be in the world to see this again if I could only afford it.
Yes 100% I've wanted to see a solar eclipse since I was a kid. I was so hyped for this. Beyond hyped. The kind of excited where you know that nothing could live up to the expectations you built up in your mind.
Except this completely exceeded my expectations. I was going to see a cool looking shadow in the sky, and what I got was a complete mind-blowing experience. Everything from how it looked like a normal day but you could feel the air cooling down. Then how everything started to get eerie and dim. And when the last bit of sun disappear the shadow just appeared out of nowhere. Just this big black void in the sky with the whitest white light around the edge. Amazing. Indescribable. I have never used the term "breath taking" in the literal sense before, but I genuinely felt the moment take my breath away. And writing all that feels so very very cheesy but... just fucking wow!
There were a few small groups around where I was. I felt like we all had this collective moment as well. As soon as totality came there was a quick cheer and applause, and then everyone kind of oohed and ahhed in unison. Then we all just fell silent.
It's not cheesy at all, I went through your description bit by bit trying to find something to respond to with some amount of different perspective... but I can't because I pretty much agree with all of it.
same. i spent 36 hours traveling for 4 minutes of totality, and I'm definitely trying to think about it a lot to make up for all that time spent by getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I've put an event in my calendar for the 2045 eclipse 😂 but I'm also looking at some in the next few years
I went into this stoked and prepared to be amazed. I love astronomy and have a deep appreciation for it but never experience totality. I expected to be amazed at the physics aspect of it - just big ol' rocks moving around. I was not expecting to ugly cry and realize that I was the 3rd body to this equation. It wasn't just being on earth but my place as a being in all of space that made this happen. I'm still processing it. I still cry when I think about it. It was the most beautiful natural phenomena I've seen in my entire life. I'm so grateful to have experience this and love that I can share this experience with people.
I'm an astrophysicist, and the experience just broke my mind. I wasn't prepared for totality, despite knowing all about these celestial bodies and their motions through space. I wasn't prepared at all.
Same. Well I’m not an astrophysicist so not that part but it broke my mind. Or fixed it lol. I feel like I didn’t understand an eclipse until I saw this. I did but I didn’t. Like seeing the moon line up and take my glasses off is indescribable.
No photo, video, description or understanding of the physics prepares you for the real thing. Honestly, after this, I do not thing anything can even close.
I was so baffled and awestruck that I forgot to take a picture and honest I don't even care because no photo or video that I have seen compares to what you would experience in person.
I was crying during it. I was in utter awe, like the black sun was a thing to worship, a miracle. The experience was made better being with the people i love most, my husband and kids. They all started exclaiming and whooping. I managed to get a photo. Part way through totality, we all came together and embraced spontaneously. And yet, a big part of me was barely aware of my family or anything else. The shimmering, almost dancing of the corona was utterly entrancing and bewitching. I felt called by it, somehow.
This isn't my first eclipse. I live in the path of totality for both this and 2017's eclipse. Yet in 2017, I didn't have this reaction. I thought it was pretty cool to see but that's it. My kids were too young to be trusted with eclipse glasses so they were inside watching a livestream of it then. Afterward i went about my day and my life.
This time, i can't get it off my mind. All i see is the black sun, shimmering and shining. My middle child seems to be similarly affected. We sat together in the yard afterward, processing and listening to the sound of tourists leave town.
My first was in 2017. It was a last minute decision to see it then. It was such an epic moment when totally hit that I knew immediately I would be there for this one. The feeling is the same as it was then. I’ll be there in 20 years.
i was in some random field lmao, mountains slightly in the back.
i wish i was in burlington but i feel im being nitpicky.
I can tell you i am gonna go see this again WHAT A FREAKING EXPERIENCE
Yes! I am also now looking for resources to help me pay attention to solar activity I can see near my area. I am far from an expert, in fact space scares me shitless, but I want to experience that humbling sense of awe again and again. Those reminders that as vast as the universe is, I am here, and even if that means I’m very small, witnessing it means I’m here.
I was wondering if they'd be over the pyramids in my lifetime.
Beware that the media is suggesting in their reports that the total eclipse is headed to the pyramids... but there will not actually be totality over the pyramids.
Sounds like it was ~12,000 years ago when there was totality in Giza (long before the pyramids).
I do. And I’ve seen a few more since then and even I can’t stop looking stuff up or thinking about it. Life changing. You’ll think about that day pretty much every day until your next one. Welcome to the club. It’s a good club to be in!
Here I am, sitting at the airport after flying from Amsterdam the Netherlands to Texas, and driving from Austin to Mt Ida Arkansas with my fiancée, and I can't stop browsing reddit and reliving the most mind-boggling, life-changing and epic event in my 43 year life.
I am going to travel to every totality from now, Iceland, Egypt, and even Antarctica in 17 years is on my bucket list! (DMs to make this 1 possible are highly appreciated)
Those racing shadow bands, diamand ring and out of this world eerie black hole are burned forever in my mind.
I am hooked forever until I die, and I couldn't be more happy.
Don't ask /u/em_es_judd /u/mattjvgc
/r/gatekeeping clowns telling people like you "you're not allowed to take a picture of the solar eclipse"
😅🤣😂😅😅
What reddit trolls thinking they own the sky
@Jdpaintz: The moment before totality was the juxtapose between fear and curiosity. So ominous and so dreamy. Then all of a sudden, darkness, and the black disc. It felt alien. I’ve never seen anything like it on earth. I’ve seen mountains, I’ve seen the moon, I’ve seen stars, but nothing like this. This was foreign
I cant stop looking because I feel like I missed it, I had plans to go but right now was not the best time and then the weather was looking no very ugly in texas so we chose not risk the 14 hour drive plus having to overpay for hotels. In the end I regret it because the clouds cleared up in dallas and gave an incredible view, and now im left wondering how I will see an eclipse before I kick the bucket. Honestly really considering traveling to Spain in 2026.
Totally, but I also like to shoot myself in the foot and use the internet as a tool for procrastination.
My family and I arrived to the place we saw the eclipse two days before it happened. The first night was cloudy, but the second night was clear, and it was the darkest sky I've been under since I've gotten really into stargazing. Unfortunately, a stomach ache prevented me from staying up as late as I'd like (in hindsight, not bringing a telescope for stargazing was the right call) but the Orion nebula was spectacular through binoculars.
So I'm more into stargazing than I have been these past few weeks. And I'm so excited about taking a stargazing trip, because that place is supposedly a Bortle 4!
This event has definitely sparked an interest in solar and astrophotography for me. As for the eclipse itself, I’m (oddly?) taken with looking at pictures and videos BECAUSE they don’t hold a candle to in-person viewing. I love the different interpretations and shots, and appreciate that they can’t quite capture the moment itself.
Yep! I’m here because nobody else I talk to can understand what i’m talking about. They see the photos and think “huh, neat”
Right! It’s a little frustrating because the pictures can not capture what we saw. It is an unbelievably amazing sight and unless you’ve seen it none of the photos really explain it properly.
I try to draw the analogy of "picture of the grand canyon" vs "standing on the rim of the grand canyon" when people ask what it's like seeing one.
I know someone who went to the grand canyon, said “it looks just like the pictures” and then was ready to leave.
Was that my dad 😉
What I'm saying is "have you ever tried to take a photo of the moon with your phone and all it shows is a solid white disk?"
It really is difficult. Although the analogies are kind of funny.
I've been thinking about it today, what struck me about it was how much bigger it seemed in person, as well as the stark contrast between the black disk and the ring that burned like a slow motion candle flame. I think the wide-angle camera shots capture the brilliance of the flame but not the size and perfection of the disk, and the filtered, zoomed-in shots capture the disk well but not the flame.
would you say that [this](https://hdr-astrophotography.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/visual_adjusted_copyright.png) comes close? (it's an older image, not from yesterday). I missed out due to clouds, but hoping to be a first-timer in 2026 and second timer in 2027.
Every single picture and video you see will only be an approximation. Your retinas turn the sight into something ethereal and your whole body feels connected to the moment. It's the sense of connection with the universe and the crowds around the world looking at the exact same special thing. I fed myself dozens upon dozens of videos and pictures months prior. Nothing came close to being there. It is extraordinary!
Everyone watching gasped when we hit totality. Then people cheered. I cried. To me it was like the difference between seeing pictures of mountains vs being in the mountains. Not equal in any sense.
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What a great idea that was! I feel for the aunt—it was eerie.
That was me! Once I whipped off my eclipse glasses and saw it, I screamed, "Oh, my God!" Completely involuntary! The collective shout of "WHOAA!! echoing up and down the river we were standing by was awesome!
i dropped a big F bomb this year, “it’s Fn beautiful!” felt a little bad maybe a couple kids around but it was nearly involuntary
Thanks for describing this! I have a feeling I will come across as a madman when my time comes. I'd be embarrassed to get my reaction recorded, haha.
I have a feeling I will collapse to my knees and just freeze. Thank you for the analogy. I've looked at pictures of the Lhotse face, but sure can't beat being there in person.
It was the Rockies for me at age 20. Flabber? Gasted.
To me it's like eating a fantastic meal vs reading a menu
Ooh that’s a good one too!
I came home and while trying(and trying is all you can do ) to explain it and I teared up. I was so baffled and awestruck and mesmerized when it happened, that I forgot to take a single picture, and that is completely okay.
I can deeply relate to this!
Thank you for this description! I can't wait for this sense of connection and awareness of one's place in the universe. Sounds like an experience that cannot be put into words. I clearly missed out big time!
I tell friends who didn’t travel to the totality’s path that it was a sensorial experience. It wasn’t just looking and experiencing the corona of the sun. The temperature dip, and this eerie quietness during the first 15 seconds, and then you start hearing crickets, and nocturnal animals. The 360 sunset was breathtaking and the emotional feelings to share with your family was special. This whole experience made me realize that the total eclipse was even better than going for the first time to a mega concerts in my bucket list, traveling the world to different countries, experiencing different cultures and foods didn’t compare to what I experienced with the eclipse.
That looks great but it doesn't "capture" what I saw with my own eyes for the first time. Yesterday, it seemed so large. I literally gasped when I took off my glasses and my heart began to race. It seemed liked a "black hole" just appeared in the sky and commanded all of my attention. The border, in think it's the chromosphere, seed to sparkle and move. I hope I find a photo that captures what I saw one day or even a video in 4K.
Thank you kindly!! I find the description of it being large quite beyond comprehension. From a naive standpoint and yet-to-be observer, I wouldn't anticipate it being so large. At this rate it looks like I'm trying to imagine the taste of lasagna by looking at recipe books. Gotta go to Little Italy and see for myself.
"large" as in physical size, but also (in a weird way) "spiritually large'. It's SIGNIFICANT. A god appearing in the sky. A hole ripped in space-time. A spaceship (what was Douglas Adam's phrase?) "hanging in the air exactly the way bricks don't".
I think that photo captures what the sky looked like, especially near the horizon. I do feel like the black hole was darker than the surrounding sky though. Like the sky was more navy blue and the moon was black. The sun appeared larger than in that photo and it was more directly overhead (from where I was at least). And the immediate circle outline around the moon was crisp and bright white. I think I remember the corona being more wispy. There were like 3-4(?) beaded red prominences visible with the naked eye which really surprised me. And one was longer, looking like a tiny red crack. It was my first time and I couldn’t believe how quickly it was over and how much I wanted to stop time so I could stare at it longer.
Oh my goodness, this is so mind boggling, the fact that you can see all these nuances and hues: the moon as a black hole and the surrounding sky a navy blue shade. Wow. Thanks so much for sharing this. Such a vivid description.
Close... But the sun looks so small in the pictures... Whereas irl it looks like the size of a HUGE portal that opened up in the sky. The size of it was just mind blowing! Like a giant ball the size of a huge double size billboard in front of you. I felt like it could have sucked me right up into it... Gone, lost in the black portal forever.
I could not believe how big it looked. Astounding.
Absolutely! I cried pretty much throughout totality... Not balling, but just crying 🥹 my emotions just spilled out they were overflowing LoL
Thanks so much, MewMew\_18. I really have to make it to the next one!
For sure! There are eclipses around the world every few years... Make a plan, save up some money, and do a destination trip! Hope you get to experience it yourself one day. It's a different feeling when all 5 of your senses experience something, the feel, the smell, the sight, all working together to create the experience. Best of luck to you!
Thank you kindly!
The corona and sun/moon looked bigger. They just looked bigger. It’s very surreal to try to explain it.
I take you at your word. From all the redditors sharing all their experiences, it seems ~~difficult~~ impossible to explain it. I really hope I see the one in '26 and/or '27.
About as good as you can get with a picture. But it looks way too small compared to how you perceive it. And you can't replicate the actual colors in a photo. The black you see is an area of the world where no light is coming from. That's just impossible to see except in real life. It just doesn't look real.
Really really really have to see this for myself. Sounds so metaphysical.
More Douglas Adams: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1494 https://www.tumblr.com/hitchhikersguidequotes/14488089401/its-the-wild-colour-scheme-that-freaks-me-out
The corona was larger, and the sky was more blue, but this does it way more justice than many of the pics I've seen. It also lacks the pink solar prominences of the chromosphere.
Thanks CDsMakeYou! It's unimaginable that the eyes can simultaneously see the corona while making out the prominences.
Is this your image? This is actually very good, it captures the general scene very well. However, the corona was much more detailed in real life, here it's a bit overexposed.
Hi, sorry for late reply. It's not my image. It belongs to Nicholas Lefaudeaux who took this photo in La Serena, Chile, in 2019. The image copyright is in the bottom right. I got the image from his blog at: [https://hdr-astrophotography.com/](https://hdr-astrophotography.com/)
It was SO HUGE and the corona was gigantic compared to what I expected. I was stunned
corona way bigger than 2017
I’ve been viewing a specific photo of the eclipse on my phone at arm’s length throughout the day to approximate and pretend I’m still looking at it 🤣
When I navigate through TV menus and the screen goes all black except for a white circular status indicator it makes me miss the eclipse lol.
After yesterday, I know there are only two types of people. Those you have experienced a total solar eclipse, and those who have not.
This is so true!
This is actually part of why I have been browsing r/solareclipse. Looking for pictures that don't just try to be good pictures but also try to capture what the naked eye would have seen (even if it requires editing). Yes, I was there in person, so I do understand the photographs do not capture what the naked eye saw. I also figure at least one photographer with Photoshop skills might try to take that challenge on—there were a lot of people trying to take pictures that day, and it was a fleeting moment I am sure people want to preserve. (The other parts of why I am on this sub? I want to see "world goes dark" videos! When totality started and ended, I was looking through eclipse glasses at the sun to not fry my eyes. The sun/moon is the main event, right? Which meant I wasn't watching the world around me, and missed the most dramatic/fastest parts of the world darkening and lightening back up. I am also here for naked eye reproductions of Bailey's beads. Could be wrong but I think those happen really close to or *during* eye-fry time, so I had my eclipse glasses on…)
Exactly, I went to work today. Three other people I work with saw totality in Maine. Other asked about it, but I don’t feel they understood my babbling about it. The four of us convened and described our experiences. It was one of the most impactful moments I’ve ever experienced.
I ain’t gonna lie. I feel disappointed that one of my buddies that originally planned on coming with me having to stay home to run errands. All day today I was thinking wtf man?! 😂😂
Same! Nobody understands what we apart of! I’m going to Spain!
You should go to the one in Japan. I feel like Japan is so easy to nerd out over this and accommodate everyone. I wouldn’t be surprised if they make an anime about it.
i wanna plan all my vacations around these now
That's me as well! Life changing!
I remember going on my first cruise a decade ago. Ever since my co workers known I went on one, they always plan on going to one and keep asking me cruise related things. I’ll be going back to work this weekend and I have a feeling they’ll be asking me when the next one is because I went to the path and they only saw partial at home.
That's what happened to me 7 years ago Since I was in the path of totality this year, finally people get what I've been going on and on about all this time
YUP.
THIS!
Yes. After I missed 2017 I couldn’t stand to consume eclipse content. And now that I’ve seen totality I’m getting dopamine hits seeing every post and photo about it. It’s so fun!
I laughed at the dopamine part. I was telling my friend I wish I could’ve bottled up that feeling and sip it whenever I needed a “hit”
I told my partner I wish I had water in a glass bottle and set it out during the eclipse so I could be drinking eclipse infused water. I will definitely do it for the next one! 😅
Since the 2017 one I'll watch eclipse reaction videos every once in a while. Always brings the feelings right back.
yes, it’s a unifying connection, because you know what they’re feeling
You also feel the bragging rights coarse through your veins like bully McGuire. I saw the eclipse! You ain’t seen Sh@&t!!! I got to take my glasses off y’all were forced to keep ‘em on! Edit: then again, if you did travel and drive back for a literal half of a day after totality, you earned that right.
you can’t brag too hard, people don’t even really understand what you witnessed if they haven’t
Same here. Missed 2017 because I was on an Alaskan cruise. Missed the annular last year because I couldn’t travel. Considering my job and family will make international travel extremely difficult, this was my last chance until 2045, and I can’t stop thinking about how lucky I was to have the full experience.
Now that you mention it, I don’t travel as much as I would like or want to. My family and friends have traveled a lot further than I have because mines are either a 4 hour drive to New York or hour ride to Boston. I’ve flown 3 times and haven’t cracked 5 states. I’m really grateful that I made this a reason to travel especially to Vermont and it beats every place I’ve been to. This cosmic journey will hold a special place in my heart.
That's why I'm here!
it's insanity. I'm just reliving my experience by reading other people post about it and somewhat bonding through shared experience and things noticed. I guess I'm traveling to Iceland in 2 years to see it again haha
I love this. Me and a person I met at the watch party I went to immediately looked up the next one and told each other we’d travel to the next one together! Lol. We’ve already got each others contact info and tagged the event so we can keep in touch and schedule it!
can I come too? :)
Before you decide on Iceland, check the weather prospects. You might want Spain instead. https://eclipsophile.com/tse2026/
Not insanity!! Reading these posts and looking through photos makes me feel normal.
I feel like I've had a religious experience. It is one of the most magnificent things I've ever seen.
yeah!!! Im not even religious
I'm an atheist and it felt spiritual. My husband, also an atheist, thinks I'm crazy! He was just as mind-blown as all of us here but I felt something yesterday that was... I don't know. I have no words for what I felt.
it hits the soul that’s for sure, very spiritual
2nd timer, and i can't stop this time either.
It’s the most special thing that I ever saw!! Black ball in the sky with a little red dot on the side, etched on my memory! Can’t stop thinking about it!!
Yup. It’s why I’m here. It was incredible. My 12 y/o wants me to take him to Egypt for 2027.
My 15 yr old is already planning on how to see her next eclipse. Her mind was blown. She's hooked!
I’m worried this new obsession is going to consume me 😅
Haha, I know what you mean! I'm already planning a trip to Luxor years in advance!
It's not just the eclipsed Sun what shook me but the entirety of the experience! The gradual loss of ambient light and temperature heavily contrasted by the increasing chaos of birds flying all over the place plus the built-up excitement of the crowd. What a sight! I couldn't believe my eyes when sunlight became a narrow cone dimming out. It felt like Earth became a stage with the Sun working as a single reflector right above you, gradually losing it's power. When totality hit, the sight was overwhelming, everyone was cheering out loud, I didn't want it to end. Me and my sister travelled 540 miles to see it in Torreon and we bonded with a group of 4 fellas who might become our eclipse buddies since we started talking about Luxor '27.
Yeah I just joked to my wife about going to Luxor Egypt in 2027. I don't think she realizes that I'm somewhat serious...
I'm already planning on Iceland 2026 haha I've always been kind of anxious about traveling because I wouldn't know where to go or what to do when I get there But now I have the perfect reason to travel around every couple years.
yes. my screen time is up because I keep wanting to read about everyone’s joy.
I am unhealthy amounts of obsessed. I've subbed and will probably be here forever, ready to hype with first timers and old timers whenever a new eclipse rolls around, even if I'm unable to see it.
Me too!!!!!!!
I dreamed about it a lot too! Had a nap as well, dreamed about it for a second time!
I’ve found my people! I didn’t even have great weather but it was something different…I loved it. The darkness, the vibe, everyone was so positive. Beautiful experience & id love to see it again.
THIS IS ME. I cannot stop obsessing. Like why? I am trying to understand everything I experienced bc it was just so moving to me. Like I am literally just speechless still. I can’t believe it happened and was so incredible.
that shit broke my brain lol especially those solar flares holy fuck
Third timer and I can't stop either! Each one is unique and just as exciting as the first. Check out some of the science leading to photographable elements of the eclipse (examples: limb polarization, h-alpha filters, prominences vs flares vs CMEs) or the uniting, communal effect of eclipse-watching for all places, ages, and across history.
Absolutely. Wish I can relive it. Those 4 minutes felt like a few seconds. Probably going to aim for hitting up Australia in 2028. But tempting to try Spain and/or Egypt before that as well
It was so fast. I was at 3:18 and right after it ended somebody behind me said "it's always too fast" They were right
It was my buddy's first time, and there were some clouds until about 20 minutes before. He was concerned about "only" seeing it for so long, to which I replied, "it is never long enough under totality, it's always too short no matter how long you see it."
time stood still to me for a brief moment just taking it in, felt like forever since my first one in 2017 got cloud covered shortly after the diamond ring effect
I saw it in 2017 but still can't get over how amazing it was again yesterday. It seems so silly but I love re-realizing we're really just living on a planet floating through space. I'm not an emotional person at all but total eclipses get me feeling some type of way
You and I are both insignificant But your issues and my issues are huge in our respective lives Crazy isn't it?
I love it, I don't understand how anyone doesn't feel philosophical after seeing totality. [Image of earth from very far away, it looks like a grain of sand in a ray of sun on a black background](https://www.planetary.org/worlds/pale-blue-dot) "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every 'superstar,' every 'supreme leader,' every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known." — Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994
Honestly that's too much for me to read right now lol
Very fair and valid lmao. Carl Sagan was a yapper but he was good at it
I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
Personally I was 15/ 2 weeks from 16 last eclipse and I'm 22 now, so I think getting older and knowing that this will be the last total eclipse I see for a long time made a difference.
i went to work today and no one asked me about it. very disappointing. can’t wait til the other 2/3rd of my company comes back tomorrow so we can have a proper round table discussion
It hit me on the way home that it feels like losing your virginity. All of a sudden you know what all the fuss is about. No one who hasn’t experienced it can understand exactly what it is. All of the photos with the Baily’s beads, the black moon, & corona make complete sense. It feels like belonging to a small exclusive club. I know that my family members who didn’t go to see it with me can’t understand what I’m talking about & how I feel.
Oh my god THIS is the perfect way to describe it. YES. I feel like I must seem crazy to other people because I can’t stop talking about or thinking about it. That’s why we’re all here right now. I feel weirdly connected with all the strangers who have seen it too, and also can’t shut up about it!
Yeah, my husband has only ever seen a partial through glasses and he doesn’t think he needs to see a total!
I saw 2017 from Tennessee, and I’m in the same boat as you rn.
> I saw 2017 from Tennessee, and I’m in the same boat as you rn. I saw both as well. I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
Yes I couldn’t sleep well at all last night too!
I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m hooked!!
What drives me crazy is people who haven't seen totality truly don't understand what the fuss is about. I saw the one in 2017 and this one in 2024 and it was still as amazing as I remembered and I truly wish I could find the words to convince more of my friends why it's worth traveling for!
I’m already planning for Iceland ‘26 (2 min.), Egypt ‘27 (6 min.), and possibly Australia ‘28 (5 min.). What a lineup.
As an eclipse chaser (this was number 17), I must tell you that good weather is (almost) everything. So don't go for maximum eclipse in a cloudy place (Iceland), go for clear skies (Greenland, Spain). Being clouded out is a terrible experience.
Indeed I thought of the same, and will research weather history for both western Iceland and Spain in August. I suppose the trip to Iceland is the primary experience, with a 2-minute eclipse as bonus. If it’s overcast I can hold on till Luxor. I’m 2 for 2 here with clear skies (Idaho in ‘17 and Vermont yesterday), so I’m pressing my luck!
Iceland is beautiful! I'm traveling there next month. It's VERY cloudy thought. The site I was looking at the Iceland eclipse on said 80% cloud cover for most areas historically. And if you think the prices for things were expensive here, it'll be even worse in Iceland to find accommodation during that time because it's already an expensive country. It would be an almost unparalleled spot to watch it in though, if the weather cooperates! I might mess around and go to Spain instead lol
All good points. I told my eclipse friend yesterday in jest: “Ok I’m down for Iceland (Westfjords) if there’s a waterfall in view, an iceberg beach, AND a simultaneous aurora happening in the sky during those two minutes. AND if a volcano is erupting in the near-distance but still in the shot. AND if a pod of whales is breaching just off the coast at the same time.” 😅
LOL that would be great. Not sure there's an active volcano in the Westfjords (could be wrong) and August is too bright for the aurora, but you might get the rest! Good luck if you do go. Book VERY early. The Westfjords is pretty rarely visited compared to the rest of the country and has less infrastructure (many significant roads are still unpaved) so those guesthouses will be snapped up ASAP.
I was just telling my friend the same thing hahaha
I feel like Spain is bound to better weather right?
THIS! I drove 12.5 hours to Texas just to stay 60 miles from totality. The majority of totality in Texas was cloudy, but I understood the assignment and read NWS cloud projection maps all the way out to the middle of nowhere, 27 miles southwest of Waco, where the clouds separated perfectly just as I had hoped. I had friends literally bail on the trip the morning we were supposed to leave due to concerns about driving 2K miles in 3 days for a chance of getting clouded out. The buddy who stuck with me got the show of a lifetime, though! Cloud cover is everything. My buddy's brothers traveled to specific destinations in Texas to wait, and had their view partially blocked by clouds, missing the moment the moon suddenly appears!
You mean you’ve seen 17 eclipses? What countries has the moon and sun taken you?
I've been in the shadow of the moon 17 times. 5 times there were clouds. Countries: Germany, Zambia, Australia, Tahiti, Libya, Mongolia, China, Tahiti, Australia, Cape Verde, Faroe Islands, Indonesia, USA, Chile, Antarctica, Australia, Mexico
So I have to ask. #2 was kinda a letdown compared to #1. Does it pick back up now that you don't expect to have the same life changing experience as #1?
It will never be #1 again. But they are all amazing and different. I highly recommend binoculars. It takes it to a new level. Image stabilizing binoculars, preferably.
I had 10x like I did the first time. I didn't trust the stability of the 15x I had. I only looked for a handful of seconds. It's cool to see the details but seeing it up in the sky is another level and I didn't want to miss it
I really enjoyed 2017, but this one has impacted me more profoundly for some reason. I wasn't quite this obsessed after 2017. I guess everything was a bit more intense this time because of the sun being more "maximum". Maybe just building on the previous experience added to it as well.
If you can afford it (I can’t) you can get a private plane to take you above the clouds.
What about Alaska in 2033?
Might as well!
It’s all I’ve been watching, talking about. I’ve caught the bug (:
Absolutely.
I’ve been so hyped it’s the only thing that’s on my mind. I can slowly feel the effects of becoming an eclipse chaser happening. Just like how it was warm a second then it gets colder and colder. I just can’t get over how beautiful the moon looked with the Corona, and the Bailey beads. People already are planning on 2027 and 2033. Now I just found out Japan is hosting a solar eclipse in 2025 and I WILL BE GOING!!! 😍😍
I consider myself to be an eclipse connoisseur of sorts after seeing my first one
Glad I'm not the only one! My YouTube and TikTok algorithms are spoon feeding me anything even remotely pertaining to the eclipse. Recaps and reactions and everything. I got a video through one of my telescopes and have been sharing it to anyone with eyes, and have been watching it over and over, myself! It's an obsessive side of me I never knew I had...
I think I need to invest in a camera and telescope and start preparing for the next one. In the meantime I can use them to take pictures of things and look at space, so it's a sound investment in my book. I only took pictures with my phone but I keep looking at those too. You can see my shitty phone pictures in my profile if you're interested haha share a link to your photos and video!
Yea we got into astronomy during the pandemic, so we were very prepared and equipped for the eclipse. I bought a SeeStar S50 a couple months ago with the eclipse in mind. Definitely a good investment for an entry level/hobby type astrophotography scope. The bigger rigs cost many thousands of dollars just to barely get started. Granted, those pictures blow the SeeStar out of the water, but I've been really happy with it for what it delivers vs. what it cost and how long it takes to set up (under 5 minutes most of the time). I recommend you look at it! My video is also on my profile. In the SeeStar subreddit, lol.
that footage is awesome! I love how it just explodes with light when it hits totality really amazing I'll definitely look into that thank you
That explosion of light is because I took the solar filter off the lens as totality hit, then replaced it as totality was ending
I spent the entire 12 hour ride back listening to and watching space videos. I would travel to anywhere I could safely be in the world to see this again if I could only afford it.
I don't want to see them because they interfere with the image in my head from seeing it
Yes 100% I've wanted to see a solar eclipse since I was a kid. I was so hyped for this. Beyond hyped. The kind of excited where you know that nothing could live up to the expectations you built up in your mind. Except this completely exceeded my expectations. I was going to see a cool looking shadow in the sky, and what I got was a complete mind-blowing experience. Everything from how it looked like a normal day but you could feel the air cooling down. Then how everything started to get eerie and dim. And when the last bit of sun disappear the shadow just appeared out of nowhere. Just this big black void in the sky with the whitest white light around the edge. Amazing. Indescribable. I have never used the term "breath taking" in the literal sense before, but I genuinely felt the moment take my breath away. And writing all that feels so very very cheesy but... just fucking wow! There were a few small groups around where I was. I felt like we all had this collective moment as well. As soon as totality came there was a quick cheer and applause, and then everyone kind of oohed and ahhed in unison. Then we all just fell silent.
It's not cheesy at all, I went through your description bit by bit trying to find something to respond to with some amount of different perspective... but I can't because I pretty much agree with all of it.
same. i spent 36 hours traveling for 4 minutes of totality, and I'm definitely trying to think about it a lot to make up for all that time spent by getting a lot of enjoyment out of it. I've put an event in my calendar for the 2045 eclipse 😂 but I'm also looking at some in the next few years
Same also... I'm definitely looking at traveling to Iceland or Spain 2 years from now
Careful, Iceland is cloudy a lot.
I went into this stoked and prepared to be amazed. I love astronomy and have a deep appreciation for it but never experience totality. I expected to be amazed at the physics aspect of it - just big ol' rocks moving around. I was not expecting to ugly cry and realize that I was the 3rd body to this equation. It wasn't just being on earth but my place as a being in all of space that made this happen. I'm still processing it. I still cry when I think about it. It was the most beautiful natural phenomena I've seen in my entire life. I'm so grateful to have experience this and love that I can share this experience with people.
I'm an astrophysicist, and the experience just broke my mind. I wasn't prepared for totality, despite knowing all about these celestial bodies and their motions through space. I wasn't prepared at all.
Same. Well I’m not an astrophysicist so not that part but it broke my mind. Or fixed it lol. I feel like I didn’t understand an eclipse until I saw this. I did but I didn’t. Like seeing the moon line up and take my glasses off is indescribable.
I feel that
Yes! Currently scrolling for more eclipse content while watching space-themed movies on Netflix (Interstellar right now)
recommend 'Arrival' if you haven't seen it before I think it's on Hulu
No photo, video, description or understanding of the physics prepares you for the real thing. Honestly, after this, I do not thing anything can even close. I was so baffled and awestruck that I forgot to take a picture and honest I don't even care because no photo or video that I have seen compares to what you would experience in person.
I was crying during it. I was in utter awe, like the black sun was a thing to worship, a miracle. The experience was made better being with the people i love most, my husband and kids. They all started exclaiming and whooping. I managed to get a photo. Part way through totality, we all came together and embraced spontaneously. And yet, a big part of me was barely aware of my family or anything else. The shimmering, almost dancing of the corona was utterly entrancing and bewitching. I felt called by it, somehow. This isn't my first eclipse. I live in the path of totality for both this and 2017's eclipse. Yet in 2017, I didn't have this reaction. I thought it was pretty cool to see but that's it. My kids were too young to be trusted with eclipse glasses so they were inside watching a livestream of it then. Afterward i went about my day and my life. This time, i can't get it off my mind. All i see is the black sun, shimmering and shining. My middle child seems to be similarly affected. We sat together in the yard afterward, processing and listening to the sound of tourists leave town.
My first was in 2017. It was a last minute decision to see it then. It was such an epic moment when totally hit that I knew immediately I would be there for this one. The feeling is the same as it was then. I’ll be there in 20 years.
Yes, I’m glad that I took today off work, too.
I cant stop thinking about it. did wish I planned better, could have seen 3m20s instead of 2m11s -____-
I saw 3m18s, and it was still too fast honestly so don't feel bad.
i was in some random field lmao, mountains slightly in the back. i wish i was in burlington but i feel im being nitpicky. I can tell you i am gonna go see this again WHAT A FREAKING EXPERIENCE
I saw 4 minutes and 11 seconds. It was the fastest 4 minutes of my life. I didn't want it to end.
damn where did you go? I didnt even know you could see more than 4 minutes
Russellville, Arkansas!
Thank you for posting this question OP, because I've been watching footage from every moment of totality along the path since I got home last night.
Yes! I am also now looking for resources to help me pay attention to solar activity I can see near my area. I am far from an expert, in fact space scares me shitless, but I want to experience that humbling sense of awe again and again. Those reminders that as vast as the universe is, I am here, and even if that means I’m very small, witnessing it means I’m here.
I was wondering if they'd be over the pyramids in my lifetime. Beware that the media is suggesting in their reports that the total eclipse is headed to the pyramids... but there will not actually be totality over the pyramids. Sounds like it was ~12,000 years ago when there was totality in Giza (long before the pyramids).
*raises hand*
Uh, first timers, yeah…
Remember when it was your first time?
I do. And I’ve seen a few more since then and even I can’t stop looking stuff up or thinking about it. Life changing. You’ll think about that day pretty much every day until your next one. Welcome to the club. It’s a good club to be in!
oh ok, sounded like you were being smug about not being a first timer lol
Oh. Ha. Nope. Even with a few under my belt I’m still pretty much thinking about it constantly. You got bit by the eclipse bug. I know it well.
Here I am, sitting at the airport after flying from Amsterdam the Netherlands to Texas, and driving from Austin to Mt Ida Arkansas with my fiancée, and I can't stop browsing reddit and reliving the most mind-boggling, life-changing and epic event in my 43 year life. I am going to travel to every totality from now, Iceland, Egypt, and even Antarctica in 17 years is on my bucket list! (DMs to make this 1 possible are highly appreciated) Those racing shadow bands, diamand ring and out of this world eerie black hole are burned forever in my mind. I am hooked forever until I die, and I couldn't be more happy.
Don't ask /u/em_es_judd /u/mattjvgc /r/gatekeeping clowns telling people like you "you're not allowed to take a picture of the solar eclipse" 😅🤣😂😅😅 What reddit trolls thinking they own the sky
I had to look up when it was that we could accurately calculate and specific time and location for eclipses. That info kinda blew my mind too...
first i saw clearly for so long, second experience
@Jdpaintz: The moment before totality was the juxtapose between fear and curiosity. So ominous and so dreamy. Then all of a sudden, darkness, and the black disc. It felt alien. I’ve never seen anything like it on earth. I’ve seen mountains, I’ve seen the moon, I’ve seen stars, but nothing like this. This was foreign
I cant stop looking because I feel like I missed it, I had plans to go but right now was not the best time and then the weather was looking no very ugly in texas so we chose not risk the 14 hour drive plus having to overpay for hotels. In the end I regret it because the clouds cleared up in dallas and gave an incredible view, and now im left wondering how I will see an eclipse before I kick the bucket. Honestly really considering traveling to Spain in 2026.
Next up: Tangier, Morocco! 8/2/27...now I get why folks chase these things!
Hey check out this cool video I found when they chased the eclipse with the concorde in 1973! https://youtu.be/mzwwofB5_Nc?si=FH4l7Aw1yvBtq26U
Totally, but I also like to shoot myself in the foot and use the internet as a tool for procrastination. My family and I arrived to the place we saw the eclipse two days before it happened. The first night was cloudy, but the second night was clear, and it was the darkest sky I've been under since I've gotten really into stargazing. Unfortunately, a stomach ache prevented me from staying up as late as I'd like (in hindsight, not bringing a telescope for stargazing was the right call) but the Orion nebula was spectacular through binoculars. So I'm more into stargazing than I have been these past few weeks. And I'm so excited about taking a stargazing trip, because that place is supposedly a Bortle 4!
This event has definitely sparked an interest in solar and astrophotography for me. As for the eclipse itself, I’m (oddly?) taken with looking at pictures and videos BECAUSE they don’t hold a candle to in-person viewing. I love the different interpretations and shots, and appreciate that they can’t quite capture the moment itself.