While I don't want to dismiss partial eclipses entirely, please don't think that partial eclipses are "almost the same" as total eclipses. One is a curiosity, the other is a memorable life event.
Total solar eclipses are magical.
The sun turns into a gleaming jewel and all of nature around you enters another dimension. The animals freak out, the temperature of the air around you drops dramatically, your shadows morph and multiply into weird shapes, it feels like midnight with an ethereal glow.
You see the atmosphere of the sun glow in all chromatic glory.
You'll never witness anything else like it.
- I saw a child start laughing uncontrollably at 99.9% and then go completely silent and literally fall over at 100%
- A grown woman began sobbing
Occurred to me that we humans are among those animals that "start acting strangely" when this event occurs. Even when we know what's happening!
For me personally, it was the first and only time in my life that I felt, in a spatial awareness sense, that I was on a rock flying through space. The immensity, scale, anciency, and inevitability of the whole system just really hit me in the face in a way that is impossible to describe.
In fact I had a flight booked to Spain to see this one which I unfortunately won't be able to make anymore.
It is literally night and day. Total eclipses are absolutely profound.
With a partial eclipse, shadows look odd and the sunlight "feels" noticeably dimmer and more muted, but if you're not paying attention you might not notice much out of the ordinary.
An annular eclipse is much more dramatic and unmistakable. It's not as striking as totality, and of course you can't directly observe it without eye protection, but the "ring of fire" is beautiful in its own way.
The whole of Northern Europa driving back up, me included.
To bad it was cloudy, not sun to be see. I saw the 2017 one in Oregon though, it was scorching hot but no cloud to be seen.
A total eclipse is just on a whole different level.
BTW, you can't photograph a partial eclipse with your phone directly but you can snap a picture of the reflection in the lenses. https://imgur.com/a/partial-solar-eclipse-europe-march-2015-...
Just be careful while looking towards the sun even if you're concentrating on the screen. Even though it's not as strong as normal it's still strong enough to potentially damage your eyes. Some kind of shade is advised.
2. Don't let your partial experience this week check off the "see an eclipse" box and then not try to see totality – totality is an absolute must-see event