bailys beads

English - English

Definition of bailys beads in English English dictionary

Just before and after a total eclipse, the slender, unobscured crescent of the sun's disk appears momentarily like a row of bright spots resembling a string of beads

A row of bright spots observed in connection with total eclipses of the sun

The phenomenon (first fully described by Francis Baily, 1774 1844) is thought to be an effect of irradiation, and of inequalities of the moon's edge