Eclipse Above Ob Sea

The total solar eclipse of 2008 August 1 was visible over a thin swath of Earth extending from northern Canada to Siberia, Mongolia and China. The above image was taken during totality at the coast of Ob Sea, a large lake near Novosibirsk in Russia-Siberia. Although the brightest parts of the Sun are covered, the normally invisible corona of hot gas surrounding the Sun became prominent. Just to the upper left of the Moon darkened Sun are planets Mercury and Venus (the brighter). The increased darkening of the sky toward the left indicates the darkened atmosphere created by the passing shadow cone of the total solar eclipse.