the brilliant points of sunlight that appear briefly around the moon, just before and after a total eclipse
Word origin
C19: named after Francis Baily (died 1844), English astronomer who described them
Baily's beads in American English
(ˈbeɪliz)
bright spots visible along the rim of the moon during a total eclipse of the sun, just before or after totality, caused by sunlight passing through the moon's valleys and clefts