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During a total solar eclipse, some colors really pop. Here’s why

The Purkinje effect may play tricks on your color vision as light dims

About a dozen people with their backs turned to the camera watch the August 21, 2017 eclipse. The people are looking up into the sky at a white sun with a black dot in the center. The sun is at the top center of the image. The sky is dark blue gradually darkening to midnight at the upper corners of the picture. The horizon is yellow and orange as if at sunset. Several people are taking pictures with cell phones held aloft. One person at the center right in the back of the group wears a red hooded sweatshirt with an Adidas logo on the back and a skirt.

Eclipse watchers, like these people in Menan, Idaho, who saw the August 21, 2017, eclipse, may notice that colors of objects around them look different when the moon completely blocks the sun.

Natalie Behring/Getty Images

By Tina Hesman Saey

During a total solar eclipse, people may see some strange things.