From Scott A. Stevenson:
On August 21, the United States will experience a total solar eclipse across nearly the entirety of the central part of the country. To give a perspective on what people will see I am publishing this video that was made with images shot of a total solar eclipse from November, 2012. This Total Solar Eclipse 4K video features time lapse footage for 3 phases of a total solar eclipse. The first phase is partial due to the sun being blocked from view behind a hill during sunrise. What is seen is the moon moving in front of the sun until it is perfectly aligned to completely block out its disc of light. During totality we can see the sun’s corona which appears as a halo around the shadowed disc. We can also see solar prominences as bright pinkish spots extending from the perimeter of the eclipse. Ordinarily to observe solar prominences one needs special equipment due to the blinding light of the sun. It is during the totality of a total solar eclipse that one can use an ordinary telescope to see such amazing features.
The moments just before and just after totality one will see what is known as the “diamond ring effect” where the sun is peeking out from behind the moon’s shadow and the eclipse takes on the appearance of a diamond ring. In my video I managed to capture this effect at the end of totality. It is one of the more astounding effects to observe during a total solar eclipse.