Baily's pearls

Baily's pearls on March 9, 2016, Indonesia

The Bailyschen beads (engl. Baily's Beads ), also Perlschnurphänomen called, are an optical phenomenon that during a total eclipse can be observed. It was first described by the British astronomer Francis Baily in 1836 .

The phenomenon is caused by the unevenness of the moon's surface . Shortly before and after totality, the sun shines through the valleys between the moon mountains. For a few seconds, points of light appear at the edge of the moon, which are strung like pearls on a string . As a special case, the diamond ring is created by a single point of light , as shown in the illustration.

Web links

NASA website on (English)
Baily's pearls near the totality of a solar eclipse - Astronomy Picture of the Day of March 28, 2015.

Individual evidence

^ Ian Ridpath: A Dictionary of Astronomy . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-960905-5 , pp. 45 .

[1] Ian Ridpath: A Dictionary of Astronomy . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2012, ISBN 978-0-19-960905-5 , pp. 45 .