Second Contact! The eclipse has begun

These are two versions of a photograph by Paul Hombach with a small refractor telescope, showing the last rays of photospheric light, the chromosphere and several prominences - including a pretty big one which is also shown enlarged.

How the 2nd Contact came upon us: Two more views of the last few seconds before the Moon is totally covering the Sun - these and all other photographs on these pages are by Daniel Fischer, unless noted otherwise. For the last image, the exposure time was prolonged to get a so-called diamond ring effect: The last rays from the photosphere form the 'diamond', the corona is the ring.