This is a photo of the March 9, 2016 total solar eclipse that I took on the path of totality from the small costal village of Pulau Dua on the East coast of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia.

During the brief moment of "totality" (that lasted about 2 min), the Sun is completely hidden by the Moon, day becomes night (you can see stars), and you can then look directly at the total eclipse with the naked eyes, with no need for glasses or filters. And this is what you see!

The whitish hair-like structure around the Sun is called the "Corona", and can only be seen and photographed during the moment of totality, when the Sun is completely hidden by the Moon.

The Corona is formed by hot ionized gas particles (plasma) ejected by the Sun into space (eventually forming the "solar wind"). When they reach the Earth, those particles form aurora borealis ("northern lights"). The Corona continuously changes shape (very slowly) and it looks different at each total solar eclipse. The bright spot on the left is a prominence, i.e. giant splashes of sun's molten material.

I obtained this image using HDR processing, from just 3 exposures that I took with a regular DSLR camera (Sony A65) and a 300mm telephoto, on a tripod. No filter was used since this photo was taken during the moment of "totality", when it is safe to look at the Sun directly with the naked eyes.

Here is a photo of my camera setup when I took this eclipse photo. And this one with the locals from the village.