https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/eclipse-its-all-about-the-umbra/ >In recent days I’ve been reading a few eye-witness accounts of total solar eclipses across the ages. What’s common to almost all of these descriptions is the genuine sense of awe that a blocked-out sun evokes. That awe come from different pieces of the experience. It’s in the alien vista of the Sun’s corona, or in the spectacle of Bailey’s beads, or the sudden chill that descends on an otherwise warm sunny day and the wind that whips up. >But what’s bothered me is why some of these phenomena should have such a visceral impact. After all, a stray cloud can do a pretty good job at blotting the Sun out, as can a well-placed umbrella or hand.