The overall photo voltaic eclipse that handed throughout North America on 8 April drew thousands and thousands out to the trail of totality – the skinny strip of land throughout which the moon’s silhouette blocked out all the disc of the solar. Much more gawked on the partial eclipse seen throughout many of the continent. Listed here are 5 of New Scientist’s favorite photos from 2024’s complete eclipse.

On the precise aspect of this picture, which was taken in Kerrville, Texas, you may see the sting of the moon simply starting to encroach on the solar. Nearer to the centre and left aspect of the solar are a pair of sunspots – dim areas the place the floor of the solar is unusually cool.

This image, additionally taken in Kerrville, Texas, exhibits a phenomenon referred to as Baily’s Beads. Simply earlier than and after full totality, the topography of the moon permits small beams of daylight to peek round its edges, creating shiny spots on the sting of the moon’s silhouette.

This picture was taken by the GOES-East satellite tv for pc, which observes Earth from area for climate monitoring and forecasting. The moon’s shadow swept throughout Mexico and the US throughout the eclipse, making a pool of twilight-like darkness at its centre and partial eclipses at its edges.

Throughout totality, pictured right here from Indianapolis, Indiana, a number of prominences had been seen on the sides of the solar. These are areas the place the solar’s advanced magnetic subject shapes scorching plasma into shiny loops and flares that go off the solar’s floor, and they’re best to watch when the disc of the solar is blocked by the moon.

For scientists, the primary significance of a complete photo voltaic eclipse is that it supplies a novel alternative to view the solar’s diaphanous outer layer, the corona. When the disc of the solar isn’t blocked, it far outshines the corona, so an eclipse is the proper time to check this mysterious sheet of plasma, proven right here throughout totality in Dallas, Texas.