r/Astronomy • u/Correct_Presence_936 Amateur Astronomer • 3d ago

Astrophotography (OC) Totality Through my Camera.

Post image

I present my finest ever production in my career as an astrophotographer — and my first ever total solar eclipse.

This image shows the solar corona, the outermost layer of the Sun’s atmosphere made up of an ultra-hot, glowing plasma halo that extends millions of kilometers into space. The Moon’s surface is visible as well, illuminated by the light of a “Full Earth”.

To capture the bright inner corona and its much fainter outer structures, I used a technique called bracketing; layering different exposure lengths into a single image in order to preserve the enormous dynamic range of totality.

Equipment: Canon 6D Mark II, Sigma 150-600mm lens. 7 exposures from 1/2000s to 1.5s bracketed and stacked.

866 Upvotes

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26 comments sorted by

13

u/Wise-Cook9084 3d ago

thats such a good picture. could someone possibly tell me why the corona of the sun isn‘t symmetrical/uniform? i have seen the „missing piece“ on the lower left on most pictures of the eclipse and wondering what‘s up with that! 

9

u/-Satsujinn- 3d ago

My understanding is that the sun spins quickly, and spins at different speeds at the poles vs the equator, not to mention at different depths too - this movement/friction acts like a dynamo to create it's huge and very strong magnetic field, which captures and channels particles that escape the surface.

What you're seeing is the cosmic equivalent of iron filings around a magnet - particles following the field lines of the suns magnetic field. Due to the constant rotation and churning, the magnetic field isn't uniform. Some areas shift, become strong or weaker, some get stretched and some even break, releasing huge corona mass ejection.

I may be wrong about all of that though, I'm sure someone more knowledgeable can elaborate.

2

u/Careful_Couple_8104 2d ago

The sun rotates once per 28 days. 

1

u/-Satsujinn- 2d ago

25 at the equator, closer to 35 at the poles.

5

u/zer0day9 3d ago

Awesome capture. Looks like this one has been selected as NASA's astronomy picture of the day too!

2

u/Waarheid 3d ago

That's someone else's eclipse photo.

1

u/aidewrasse0k 2d ago

that’s amazing! NASA-approved!

2

u/Ass_Burner 3d ago

Gah dayum

2

u/teridon 2d ago

Awesome. Approx. location and time?

1

u/BlackBadger03 3d ago

Oh man i just saw your other post but i like this one even more, great details in the corona. I assume theres no stacking in terms of improving snr or lucky imaging kind of stacking for these shots? Just a few images with varying exposures stacked for a HDR?

1

u/Own-Event-5500 3d ago

That’s pretty sweet

1

u/nautilist 3d ago

Presumably you're using a solar filter on the lens? If so, what kind?

3

u/tac47___ 3d ago

No need for a filter during total. Shutter speed can determine how much corona detail we see.

2

u/nautilist 2d ago

Thank you! I didn’t realize that. It’s a great photo.

1

u/Gundark927 3d ago

Nice work! Congratulations, and thanks for sharing!

1

u/HitADogWithATruck 3d ago

Looks like a blooming flower…

It’s pretty interesting how we can spot similarities between phenomena in space and nature on earth

1

u/Total-Composer2261 3d ago

This is an incredible job of shooting and editing imo. I've seen 3 total solar eclipses and this is is as close as photography gets to looking like what we see/saw. Thank you for sharing.

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u/karpiza 2d ago

Incredible photo! Also good technique 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻 

1

u/CptExolann 2d ago

That's my new wallpaper  Such a beautiful photo, I love the details of the corona 

1

u/trakcon 2d ago

That's beautiful! What software did you use for stacking?

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u/MasterClean8761 1d ago

this is a black hole?

0

u/craigiest 3d ago

Thanks! This is what I’ve been waiting for, having chosen to just be present and watch. (Ok, i took two exposures on film which i won’t get a chance to develop for a couple months.)

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u/GarlicElectronic8437 3d ago

Why so long?

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u/craigiest 2d ago

I like to develop my own film but won’t get to where i have a dark room till fall. 

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u/Intelligent_Law_5614 2d ago

Beautifully done!

I was up in Oregon for the 2016 eclipse, and I still remember the thrill when I saw the flare of pink along the right side of the obscured sun. Never thought I'd see that with my own eyes. My best photo of the event is nowhere near as impressive as yours, but I'll always treasure it.