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In response to
"Annie Dillard's essay is perhaps a bit overwraught, but she attempts to describe just how freaky totality is. -- (link)"
by
mara
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Here's a more prosaic description: "As the sliver thins, though, you get the very weird atmosphere that surrounds an eclipse, which is very difficult
Posted by
mara
Aug 9 '17, 11:47
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to describe. As the sliver of sun gets thinner and thinner, the sky darkens a bit, and the light around you takes on a weird, "clearer" quality. Everything seems sharper and clearer, though darker. It's kind of like if you were squinting, and everything seemed much clearer to you. It's very strange, and it's a very powerful effect on your senses.
"As partiality deepens, and the sliver of Sun shrinks even more, the sky gets darker - very slowly, but noticeably darker. You don't really see it happening, but you can tell it's changing somehow. The shadows on the ground become very sharp, very contrasty, and you feel like there's something wrong with your eyes.
"The wind picks up a bit, and the temperature drops noticeably. Birds roost, evening insects come out, and the world prepares for sunset in the middle of the day....
"Partiality deepens even more, and the atmosphere actually starts to be a little scary. The sky gets deeper and deeper dark blue, and the Sun-sliver gets thin enough that you can actually (through your filters, remember?) start to see it shrinking as you watch it. In the five minutes before totality, you can really get a feel for how earth-shatteringly frightening this event must have been to ancient people who had no idea what was going on.
"As the last bite of the Sun slides away, things happen way too fast to describe concisely. You simply cannot focus on every one of the events that are taking place all around you, so you have to pick the few that seem the coolest to you. (There will be more eclipses, after all, and in about 5 minutes you're going to be on the phone making travel plans to see the next one!) The most important thing going on is the actual Sun up in the sky, but let's take a peek at just a couple of other things first.
"The sky surrounding the Sun will grow very dark very quickly. In real time, you will be able to see the deep blue turn to twilight blue, and then to bluish-black. Stars and planets will pop out of nowhere. Roosters will crow and insects will chirp as though night is falling. If you look to the west, you'll see a beautiful black curtain rising up out of the Earth, with hints of sunset-orange north and south of it, while off to the east, the sky at the horizon is still rather light. On the ground, your shadow will become impossibly clear and thin, and then will vanish completely as the Sun's light fades to about the intensity of the full Moon. In the last few seconds before totality, that dull blackness you saw off to the west will suddenly spring up out of the Earth, and take over the whole sky like a gigantic curtain being pulled over you - like that scene in the original Disney Fantasia movie - only about a hundred times faster. If you aren't focused on the Sun at that time (like most people will be), you'll be looking at the actual shadow of the Moon racing toward you at supersonic speed, covering you with its blackness. If you see that, you're very lucky, because it happens so fast."
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