The diamond-ring effect occurs at the beginning and end of totality during a total solar eclipse. As the last bits of sunlight pass through the valleys on the moon's limb, and the faint corona around the sun is just becoming visible, it looks like a ring with glittering diamonds on it. It is a most lovely sight, which typically merely lasts a second or so. The highly transient diamond ring effect really shows that the universe is not as static as it looks like.

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