Baily’s beads are the brilliant points of light seen just as the sun’s surface disappears behind the moon during an eclipse (see Eclipse ). The beads appear when the irregular edge of the moon breaks up the last thin crescent of the sun into many sections. The last bead seen shines like a diamond on the ring of the sun’s outer atmosphere–a spectacle known as the diamond-ring effect. Baily’s beads also can be seen as the sun’s surface reappears from behind the moon. The beads were named for British astronomer Francis Baily, who first described them as beads in 1836.
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