>What's really interesting to me, though, is that bright area near the
>horizon. The camera is facing roughly west-southwest in this shot, so
>that's just about what the sky looks like a little while after
>sunset--but the eclipsed sun is nowhere near there. It's up above,
>out of shot. I always thought that bright horizon after sundown was
>because the sun was over there, but I guess it's just an artifact of
>the general brightness level or something? Not what I expected the
>sky to look like during a total eclipse, anyway.

Oh, that’s the ”360-Degree Sunset”! When the moon’s shadow is passing over the earth, and blocking the light from directly above you, the sun is still shining down on all the areas outside of the shadow, and hitting the atmosphere and refracting about in the distance, eventually reaching you. That’s part of why it doesn’t turn pitch black (as the light is still falling outside the cone of the shadow), but is still dusk/dawn levels of light, as normally you’d get that level of light when the sun is just below the horizon shining up into our section of atmosphere.

—- Philip

	Philip J. Moyer Contributing Writer, Editor and Artist (and Moderator) -- Eyrie Productions, Unlimited CEO of MTS, High Poobah Of Artwork, and High Priest Of the Church Of Aerianne -- Magnetic Terrapin Studios "Insert Pithy Comment Here" Fandoms -- Fanart -- Fan Meta Discussions