A total solar eclipse follows a regular sequence. First, the Moon takes a tiny bite out of the Sun (only visible with a safe solar filter to reduce the Sun’s glare.) Then the Moon continues its trek across the solar disk and the nibble gets larger.

In the 15 minutes before totality, more than half the Sun is covered and the effects are easy to see on Earth. The sky darkens and the temperature drops. With five minutes to go, a wall of shadow creeps towards you from the west. The Sun’s disk is a thinning crescent.

Bright stars become visible, as day turns into night. Just before totality, a halo forms around the darkened Sun and the corona emerges.

In this tour we will learn about solar eclipses and what causes them. The eclipse featured on this tour occurs on March 29, 2006.

Before we begin, let’s watch an eclipse take place. Click the Run time forward Forward button.