Beverley Sinclair, who saw the eclipse outside Charleston, South Carolina wrote: “The skies were very cloudy leading up to totality but, miraculously, slowly cleared as totality approached.”Karl Diefenderfer saw the eclipse in Dillard, Georgia. He wrote: “To witness totality was one of the most humbling experiences of my life!”Steven Simmerman, who saw the eclipse from Wilson, Wyoming, wrote: “Extremely clear sky. Saw shadow bands, leaf lens images, drastic drop in temperature and light as well. Other celestial objects popped out. I didn’t plan for the darkness and I lost sight of my camera settings. The flash went off by itself and I could see the luminescence on my watch numerals. Overall, an awesome experience!”View larger. | An animated take on the eclipse experience, by Rob Pettengill, who observed in Tarrington, Wyoming. He wrote: “Condensing high-resolution still images into a 256-image, color, animated GIF compromises image detail and quality. The payoff is that you can see the entire 3-hour eclipse play out in about half a minute.”Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan caught this image of the diamond ring effect, with friends watching below, in Boysen State Park, Shoshoni, Wyoming.Observing from Wyoming, Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan also caught the star Regulus in the constellation Leo the Lion, under the eclipsed sun.Chirag Upreti caught Regulus, too. He wrote: “During totality, the sun’s gorgeous corona was visible with the unaided eye, and below that lay Regulus the heart of Leo. The two-and-a-half-minute show was spectacular, magical in every aspect.”Extended corona with Regulus from Eliot Herman.
Sue Waddell contributed this eclipse composite from Eastview, Kentucky, where there was a 98.3% eclipse.John Ashley composite showing the moon lapping the sun above Mount Reynolds – over Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, Montana – during Monday’s 85% solar eclipse. Notice that the angle of the path of the sun and moon matches the slope of the mountain. This was intentional. Read more about this image.Transit of the International Space Station across the partial eclipsed sun, August 21, 2017! Image via Trevor Mahmann. Find him on Facebook. To see a video centered on this capture, read more about this image.Lots of people sent us images from the road. George Preoteasa wrote: “Can’t transfer from camera as I am on the road, so here is a picture of a picture. Shot in Torrington, Wyoming.”Many, like Randy Howard in Jefferson City, Missouri, saw the eclipse at planned festivals. Notice the EarthSky eclipse glasses!The diamond ring effect from Michael Rodriguez in Jackson, Wyoming.The diamond ring effect from Sparta, Tennessee by Scott Kuhn.The diamond ring effect, solar flares, and chromosphere. Photo taken by Rob Pettengill in Torrington, Wyoming.Here’s a really special one. Ian Hennes made a pinhole image of the sun’s path across the sky over 5 hours, showing the sun going dark at mid-eclipse. Read more about this image.“Trees acting as natural pinhole projector revealing solar eclipse.” via Scott Vaughn Photography on the campus of East Tennessee University.More crescent suns, shining beneath trees on the University of Texas campus, via Deborah Byrd.Andrew Caldwell caught these crescent suns on the sides of buildings – notably Jackson Tower – in downtown Portland, Oregon during Monday’s eclipse. Read more about this image.Crescent suns through a colander, via Kathy Peterson Morton in Crested Butte, Colorado.“Sun crescents through my fingers,” by Tom Duvall.Diane Drobka wrote: “As background, I have to tell you that ducks that are not in breeding plumage are said to be in eclipse plumage. With that said, here are photos of a friend’s Rhodesian ridgeback, Nila. The light filtering through a tree’s leaves made little eclipses on her. So I’ve titled a series of photos, taken at various times during the event, as ‘Nila in Eclipse Plumage!'”Larry Bohlayer, who supplies lunar calendars to EarthSky each year, wrote: “Raindrops on eclipse glasses tell our story watching from western North Carolina. Turned out, the weater forecast was right … clouds moved in just before totality, but we saw some partial phases.”Many caught prominences on the edge of the sun. To see them in this image from Eliot Herman, who saw it in Idaho, be sure to view larger. Wow!Niccole Kowalski wrote: “The total eclipse was absolutely breathtaking from the Tetons! I caught a couple of solar flares top right and bottom right during totatily!”Garry Hayes in Seal Rock, Oregon wrote: “Fought to get images of the eclipse through fog banks, so the corona wasn’t visible, but the prominences showed up well.”Many caught exceptional partial eclipse photos, like this one from Scott MacNeill in Rhode Island. Scott wrote: “We had a fabulous day out under the solar eclipse at Frosty Drew Observatory. Thousands of visitors descended to our location to enjoy the view. Though not a total eclipse for us in Rhode Island, we experienced a 66.55% partial eclipse that started at 1:27 p.m. and ended at 4:01 p.m. with greatest eclipse at 2:47 p.m. We experienced a temperature drop in the periods around greatest eclipse which, coupled with high humidly, likely produced the thin cloud cover we experienced during that period. We collected over 12GB of images and are still going through them.”Eclipse and jet from Michael Velardo at St. Clair Shores, Michigan.Josh Grob in Molina, Georgia wrote: “We experienced 97% coverage of the sun at our location.”Photo by Angela Demetrio McClain, “taken at maximum coverage (81.9%) from my backyard in Wintersville, Ohio.”Tom Stirling said he managed to snag this partial eclipse shot in Kennebunk, Maine.August 21 eclipse partial phases, as seen from Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Photo composite by Karthik Easvur.
The video below is from Gordon Freeman in Shoshoni, Wyoming and shows a group of friends getting ready to view the eclipse …
Despite the blast of info emanating from this country, the U.S. wasn’t the only country to see this August 21 eclipse of the sun. Paulo Pereira caught the eclipse from Portugal, at sunset.Annie Lewis wrote: “Our Spanish ‘mini-eclipse’ just before sunset. Saucedilla, Cáceres, Spain.”Cairbre Ó Ciardha in Dublin, Ireland wrote: “Cloud cover allowed only 15-second window.”August 21, 2017 eclipse as seen in Monterrey, Mexico by Raul Cortes.
Bottom line: Photos of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse from members of the EarthSky community. We received hundreds of photos and enjoyed looking at them all! Thanks to all who contributed.
Our Editor-in-Chief Deborah Byrd works to keep all the astronomy balls in the air between EarthSky's website, YouTube page and social media platforms. She's the primary editor of our popular daily newsletter and a frequent host of EarthSky livestreams. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
Eleanor Imster has helped write and edit EarthSky since 1995. She was an integral part of the award-winning EarthSky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. She and her husband live in Tennessee, where they enjoy guitar playing and singing. They have 2 grown sons.
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