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Putting a Ring on it: 2017 Total Solar Eclipse

image of the diamond-ring effect during a solar eclipse
Source: NASA Photo / Carla Thomas
Published: February 28, 2022
Historical Date: August 24, 2017

The diamond-ring effect occurred at the beginning and end of totality during a total solar eclipse. As the last bits of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon's limb, and the faint corona around the Sun is just becoming visible, it looks like a ring with glittering diamonds on it.

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