Is it possible to see a diamond ring effect without seeing totality?

[shialandau]

I live in upstate NY about three and a half hours from the totality line ,and decided to drive up via the 87. unfortunately we were stuck in traffic and had to refuel while running pretty late.

At 3:15 we took exit 26 and stopped there assuming we where in the line of totality. however we weren't, we missed it with a few miles.

but, we did see the corona of the sun as well as Saturn and Venus. the sun looked like the pictures of diamond ring affect and it was that way for over a minute.

I'd like to know if anyone has any idea off what I experienced or has heard of something like this before? thank you all and I'm waiting for an answer.

 

[Catastrophe]

shialandau, by "diamond ring effect", do you mean "Baily's Beads"?

Baily's beads​

Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Baily's_beads


The Baily's beads, diamond ring or more rarely double diamond ring effects, are features of total and annular solar eclipses. Although caused by the same ...

Note the caption on the photo: "Baily's beads photographed 4 seconds before totality of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017".

Cat

 

[shialandau]

it looked some thing like this except for the fact that the sky was blue not black.

 

[Catastrophe]

shialandau,

At 3:15 we took exit 26 and stopped there assuming we where in the line of totality. however we weren't, we missed it with a few miles.

but, we did see the corona of the sun as well as Saturn and Venus. the sun looked like the pictures of diamond ring affect and it was that way for over a minute.

That looks close to totality to me - if you saw the beads.


Cat

 

[shialandau]

It was, I checked on nso website the sun was covered 99.96%.

 

[billslugg]

Totality is when no solar surface can be seen. Bailey's Beads occur just before totality.

 

[Catastrophe]

Totality is when no solar surface can be seen. Bailey's Beads occur just before totality.

As I said:
That looks close to totality to me - if you saw the beads. My emphasis.

Also, "Totality is when no solar surface can be seen.", are there not degrees of "totality"? Slight variations which cause a halo and a tiny, even immeasurable, amount of surface? Overwhelmed?

The corona is the outer atmosphere of the sun. It is made of tenuous gases and is normally hiding in plain sight, overwhelmed by the bright light of the sun's photosphere. When the moon blocks the sun's face during a total solar eclipse, the corona is revealed as a pearly-white halo around the sun.

I appreciate the difference between the solar atmosphere and the solar surface, but do not differences in the moon/sun distance allow views of the surface, as most certainly are relevant to the nature of the apparent ring of light ("corona") around the moon: in the past/future?

And how about the following (NASA)? I appreciate that it depends on the definition of a total:

Total solar eclipses won't be around forever!​

The Moon's orbit is changing. In fact, the Moon's orbit grows about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) larger every year. As the Moon's orbit takes it farther and farther away from Earth, the Moon will appear smaller and smaller in our sky.

This occasionally happens now. The Moon's orbit isn't perfectly round. That means that sometimes the Moon is slightly farther away from Earth than it is at other times. Sometimes the Moon is far enough away that it doesn't create a total solar eclipse. In this case, the Moon obscures most of the Sun, but a thin ring of the Sun remains visible around the Moon.

OK, it all depends on the definition of "total", but it is a bit feeble if you do not count the atmosphere as part of the Sun. Or 0.001% surface showing with atmosphere denies "totality". This is not good science - it is arbitrary definition. How about whether 0.0000001% of surface is visible or not? "Totality" could be different depending on a very small change in distance, or on whether anyone were watching carefully enough. Maybe how high up a mountain the observer was? Perhaps science needs to be more careful about its definitions.


Cat B.Sc. (Hons)

P.S. Looking at the photo in #3, can you say definitively whether the "bead" shows only solar atmosphere, or perhaps any amount of surface?

 

[Jzz]

That looks close to totality to me - if you saw the beads. My emphasis.

No, the diamond ring looks exactly like a diamond ring and yes, you can see it even after missing the main show.

 

[Catastrophe]

Jzz, you are confusing me:

Double Diamond Ring — Great American Eclipse

Of all the phenomena you will witness during a total solar eclipse, the diamond ring effect will be perhaps the most striking sight. The diamond ring effect occurs just as the last bit of exposed Sun is extinguished before totality and also at the moment when totality ends and the Sun reappears.

Cat