2017 Total Solar Eclipse (ashley)

2017 Total Solar Eclipse

Here is a composite of several images I took during the 2017 total solar eclipse. I viewed it from a location directly on the path of totality, so I was able to experience 2 minutes and 37 seconds of totality. It was an absolutely amazing experience.

Pictures just have no way to capture the full extent of what happens to the world around you during totality. I'll try to describe it below:

Shortly before the totality occurred there was a gradual dimming in the light all around me. It felt very eerie and kind of unsettling. It felt a little bit like how it feels when a bad storm is getting closer. The light cast on everything had a very strange tint to it. As the environment got dimmer I could see the shadow waves moving across the ground as the totality approached.

There were lots of people who came just before totality started, and people even pulled off to the side of the road that were driving as it happened. The darkness came in what felt exponentially faster, and what really took me by surprise was how the sun went from being blindingly bright to the moon being visible with the naked eye in literally just an instant. …and there it was, that image of an eclipsed sun I had seen before in images, but it was in the actual sky in front of me, and I was seeing it with my own eyes. It was surreal to say the least. There was a lot of cheering and expressions of awe from the people around me. I actually almost cried. It was emotional. I heard sirens go off, insects became silent. Lights came on, and it was literally night. The darkness was more than I had expected.

As the light came back insects started making noise again. It felt kind of like in the morning when the sun rises but much faster. It was like a new day but the night and dusk before was so short. I know they say that the two maybe three minutes of totality goes by fast, but when I was there it felt like an eternity to me. This is why I wanted to be directly on the maximum line of totality. A lot of people left once the light returned, but I stayed to capture the rest of the partial phases so that I could make this image.

	Distinct awarded users	Total awarded images
Image of the day
Top picks
Top pick nominations

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Deep sky
Solar system
Extremely wide field
Star trails
Northern lights
Noctilucent clouds
Landscape

	Image of the day	Top pick	Top pick nominations	Total submitted
Backyard
Traveller
Own remote observatory
Amateur hosting facility
Public amaeteur data
Professional, scientific grade data
Mix of multiple sources
Other
Unknown

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