This hole, the size of the full moon, has a most unusual and spell binding appearance. It is surrounded by a thin red ring. Flaring out far beyond this ring is a pale white brush of gossamer like streamers. The fine red ring around the edge of the moon's disk is a layer of the outer atmosphere of the sun called the chromosphere. Small, loopy projections from the ring, called prominences, could be seen around the occulting disk of the Moon with the naked eye.
Prominences are the evidence of magnetic storms exploding off the sun's surface.
Extending beyond this thin red ring are snowy white feather-like streamers of the sun's corona, which stretch out for several solar diameters. Because the sunspot cycle of the sun was near its 11 year maximum, the corona in this eclipse was not as large as at other eclipses. Binoculars and telescopes are useful to help resolve details in the prominences and corona, and many passengers were busy taking pictures of these features during totality. For me, by choice, this eclipse was a strictly a naked eye experience. I didn't want to concentrate on cameras or telescopes.