The Crown of the Sun
During a total
solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is
an inspirational sight.
Streamers and shimmering features visible to the eye span a brightness
range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture
in a single photograph.
But this composite of telescopic images
covers a wide range of exposure times to reveal
the crown of the Sun
in all its glory.
The aligned and stacked digital frames
were taken in clear skies above
Stanley, Idaho in the Sawtooth Mountains during the Sun's
total eclipse on August 21.
A pinkish solar prominence extends
just beyond the right edge of the solar disk.
Even small details on the dark night side of the
New Moon can be made out, illuminated by sunlight
reflected from a Full Earth.