On August 21, 2017, friends and family were able to watch the solar eclipse in totality. The location in this case was Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. It is impossible to convey the awe that everyone felt as the sun was totally eclipsed by the moon. The sky went dark, stars appeared, crickets chirped loudly, and the sun's corona appeared as if by magic. Then, the diamond ring effect appeared, the sky began to brighten, the crickets grew quiet, the stars disappeared, and it was daylight again.
Below is a time-lapse video of the event, not of the sun but of those watching it and changes to the environment. The video was started 30 minutes before totality and ended 30 minutes following totality for a total recording of 60 minutes. Because the video is made up of more than 2,500 still images taken 5 seconds apart, the video length is reduced to 24 seconds.
Watch for three things to happen:
Watch for three things to happen:
- People come and go over the course of 60 minutes on a very hot day
- The sun's shadow can be seen moving along the bay window in the background before and after totality
- As the sky darkens, the video darkens proportionately and then seems to disappear completely during totality and then reappears following totality. This is due to camera settings. It did not get quite that dark. Note the light bulb in the upper right corner which maintains constant brightness.
In a real-time video recorded by David Kwasny, listen to comments and observe people's reactions to the changing conditions.