- A total solar eclipse is a feast for the eyes, but don’t forget to look around.
- There’s more to see during a total solar eclipse than just the moon itself.
- Solar flares, a brilliant corona, 2 planets, and a diamond ring are just some of what to look for.
When a total solar eclipse passes over the United States on Monday, more than 31 million Americans living in the path of totality, where the moon will completely obscure the sun, can witness a series of rare phenomena that many won’t see in their hometowns again for hundreds of years.
“It’s very rare to have a total solar eclipse come to you,” Rick Fienberg, project manager for the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Eclipse Task Force told Business Insider. “If you’re lucky enough to be in the path, you’re very fortunate.”
That’s because the unique sights that happen before, during, and after the total eclipse are “phenomenal,” Fienberg said. And some of them, you’ll get to see twice — once as the moon passes over the sun, and again when it moves off.
“The whole thing unfolds in the opposite direction at the end” of totality, Fienberg said.
Here are eight sights he recommends looking for during the total solar eclipse.
