Total Eclipse: The Big Corona
Image Credit & Copyright:
Reinhold Wittich
Most photographs don't adequately portray the magnificence of the
Sun's corona.
Seeing the
corona
first-hand during a total
solar eclipse is
unparalleled.
The
human eye
can adapt to see coronal
features and
extent that average cameras usually cannot.
Welcome, however, to the
digital age.
The featured image
digitally combined
short and long exposures taken in
Exmouth,
Australia
that were processed to highlight faint and extended features
in the corona during the
total solar eclipse that occurred in
April of 2023.
Clearly visible are
intricate layers and glowing caustics of an ever changing mixture of hot gas and
magnetic fields in the Sun's corona.
Looping prominences appear bright pink just past the Sun's
edge.
Images taken seconds before and after the total
eclipse show glimpses of the background Sun known as
Baily's Beads and
diamond ring effect.
The next total solar eclipse will cross
North America in
April of 2024.