This picture was taken using a wide-angle lens with 28mm focal length.
The eclipsed Sun is just a little more than 0.2mm across in the original
picture. The Minolta X-700 camera was set to automatic exposure mode, as opposed
to the other cameras where the exposure times used had been precisely calculated
using the formulae describing the brightness of the solar corona. The film speed
was set to 200 ASA, instead of the nominal value of 400 ASA, to ensure the
film would handle the extreme contrasts.
Views of the sky and landscape during totality present a fascinating display of
colors and contrasts. Although it is not completely dark, it is not much
brighter than on a full moon night. The sky high above the horizon is so dark
that you can clearly see the brighter stars and planets. In particular, the
planet Venus is so prominent that you cannot miss it. Towards the horizon the
sky gets brighter and in the distance you can clearly see the Sun shining.
The picture was taken about halfway into totality, very close to the centre
of the totality path. The
umbra of the lunar shadow
formed approximately an ellipse on the Earth's surface, with the major
semi-axis of about 57 km and the minor semi-axis of about 48 km long.
This resulted in the sunlight being visible in the distance in all directions.
If we disregarded the brightly glowing corona of the eclipsed Sun the sky
would appear to be as in the morning before sunrise, only the Sun would
seem to be about to rise, at the same time, in the east, west, south, ...
everywhere. The
lunar shadow swept across the Earth's surface
at a speed of 686 m/s, which was why the light above the western horizon
quickly grew in intensity and, within a minute, this wonderful view was gone.
