Cone cells enable us to see colors clearly and function optimally under bright light conditions, known as photopic vision. However, as it grows darker, our eyes switch to rod cells, which excel in low-light conditions but do not handle colors effectively, particularly blues and green hues, referred to as scotopic vision.
Approximately four to five minutes before a total solar eclipse reaches totality, the Earth enters the mesopic vision zone, characterized by reduced colorfulness and a grayish or silvery appearance due to the surrounding lighting conditions being neither too bright nor too dark.