Tech

In case you missed it, a total solar eclipse happened yesterday — here's what it looked like

Julia Calderone

2016-03-09T16:36:00Z

March 8 total solar eclipse — NASA TV caught this shot of the eclipse during totality. NASA TV/Twitter

Shortly after 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday, March 8, the world was treated to a dazzling display in the sky.

The moon swooped directly between our planet and the sun, casting a temporary shadow on Earth, triggering a total solar eclipse.

This happens but once every 18 months, and those who were lucky enough to find themselves below the path of the moon's shadow experienced the eerie twilight and the aura of plasma dancing along the sun's surface.

But if you missed it, don't fret. NASA and other photographers recorded the entire thing. Here's what it looked like as it reached totality over South East Asia last night:

Wow, a total solar #eclipse2016! See the moon pass directly in front of the sun. It happened at 8:38 to 8:42 pm ET. https://t.co/qK6O4xppbn
— NASA (@NASA) March 9, 2016

Pretty spectacular. Here's what actually went down.

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon, sun, and Earth are perfectly aligned — causing the moon to cast two narrow shadows across our planet.

The moon orbits Earth on a slanted plane, at a slight angle. Total solar eclipses happen only when the orbit of the earth and moon are completely in line, about once every 18 months (on average).

Source: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio

Eclipses happen in incremental stages as the moon swoops around Earth. This photo was taken shortly after "first contact" from the beach of Ternate Island in Indonesia — when the moon first "touches" the disk of the sun.

From there the moon slowly glides in front of the sun until it covers the star ("second contact"). Right before that happens, rays of sunlight scatter through the craters and valleys on the moon's surface, in a phenomenon called Baily's Beads.

total solar eclipse march 8 — You can see Baily's Beads in this shot of the March 8 eclipse from Ternate Island in Indonesia. Beawiharta Beawiharta/Reuters

Source: NASA

As the moon edges close to totality, those brilliant beads around its edges will begin to disappear, leaving only one shining spot above the surface of the sun, which is said to look like a diamond ring.

total solar eclipse diamond an — You can see the "diamond" in this shot of the March 8 eclipse from Ternate Island in Indonesia. Beawiharta Beawiharta/Reuters

Source: NASA

As the moon continues along its path, the glistening "diamond" will disappear, and eventually no direct sunlight will stream around its surface.

Source: NASA

Thus begins the money shot: A total solar eclipse.

Solar_eclipse_1999_4_NR — Note: This is not the same eclipse that occurred on March 8. Luc Viatour/www.Lucnix.be

Source: NASA

At this point, it was safe to look directly at the sun without glasses, when the eclipse was in this complete totality phase. Here, a group of people watch from Jakarta, Indonesia on March 9 local time.

Source: NASA

This phase only lasted for a few minutes.

Source: NASA

If you were extra lucky, you maybe saw a giant loop of plasma , called a solar prominence, protruding from the sun during totality. You can see part of a prominence at right in pinkish-red, below:

Here's the path the shadow took during the March 8 eclipse:

Source: NASA

The darkest and narrowest part of the shadow is called the umbra.

Those lucky enough to be in the direct path of the umbra shadow were able to see the full total eclipse.

They also had the rare and mystifying opportunity to see the solar corona — an aura of dancing streamers, plumes, and loops of the sun's blazing hot plasma.

inner corona eclipse — Note: This is not the same eclipse that occurred on March 8. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Duberstein

Source: NASA

But even if they weren't within the narrow path of totality, they could still see a partial eclipse in the second, much wider shadow called the penumbra.

Source: NASA

The penumbra fanned across Asia, Hawaii, Guam, and parts of Alaska.

Source: NASA

You may be wondering how the sun was completely obscured, since the moon is much smaller than the sun — about 400 times smaller, in fact.

sun and moon diagram — A visual depiction of how big the moon and sun appear to us on Earth. NASA/SDO/LRO/GSFC

By coincidence, the moon also happens to be 400 times closer to Earth: a perfect match! Most of the time, this allows it to completely block the sun's rays.

But the moon's imperfect orbit makes it wobble — or librate — toward and away from the Earth. This sometimes makes it a bit farther away and appear smaller during an eclipse.

moon libration wobble

Source: NASA

If it's on the smaller side, you get an annular solar eclipse, like this one:

The next total solar eclipse is slated to happen on August 21, 2017. Luckily, this one’s supposed to swoop right across the states. It will be the first total eclipse visible from the US since February 26, 1979.

Source: NASA

NASA