A total solar eclipse is also an event on Earth. In the final 10–15 minutes before darkness, daylight dims to an eerie glow . Animals grow quiet; birds return to their nests. The temperature drops and a breeze may pick up; clouds can form or dissolve.

From higher ground you can sometimes see the Moon’s shadow itself — a dark curtain racing across the landscape at roughly 1,700 km per hour. Even though the eclipse path is fairly wide, just outside the shadow it remains day.

After totality everything reverses: the light returns, birds take off again, the Moon slides off the Sun. No photo or video really captures the light phenomena or the emotions; the human eye and memory win every time.