The Diamond Ring

Photo by Danny Bishop

The "Eclipse of the Century" was witnessed by a group from Denmark that have traveled the world to see the totality of a solar eclipse many times.

The group flew from Frankfurt, Germany to Seattle, Washington where they boarded Amtrak's Empire Builder for Minot, North Dakota. Thomaston native Danny Bishop picked the group up and provided a tour of the Bad Lands National Park, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse before traveling to the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument in Nebraska to view the eclipse.

The Agate Visitor Center was in the center line of the seventy mile wide swath of totality and the group organizer, Poul Kattler was providing coverage for media outlets in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Photo by Danny Bishop

The conditions were perfect as the eclipse started and reached totality that lasted for a minute, forty six seconds. The opportunity to capture the "Diamond Ring" photo occurs in the instant that totality ends and this shot was taken by Danny Bishop and forwarded to media outlets in Denmark by Kattler. A science teacher from Denver, Colorado happened to be in the Visitor Center, saw the photo and has requested the rights to use it in the school's science classes.

The Denmark group will travel to Patagonia in 2020 to see the eclipse there and are already making plans to return to the USA in 2024.