This high-dynamic-range image showcases the solar corona and the Moon during The Great American Eclipse of 2017.
- Telescope: Stellarvue SVA130T-IS
- Mount: Losmandy G-11 with Gemini 2 controller
- Autoguiding: No
- Optical Configuration: 0.72x field flattener & reducer (f/5); no solar filter during totality
- Camera: Canon 60Da
- Light Frame(s): 6 frames from 1/500 sec to 1 sec
- Calibration: None (no darks, no flats, no biases)
- Exposure Time(s): 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30 sec, and 1 sec
- ISO: 100
- Processing: Photoshop CC using HDR Pro
- Imaging Location: Prairie City, Ore.
- Click for high-quality prints
This high-dynamic-range image of the 2017 solar eclipse, originally posted August 25, 2017, has been reprocessed to reveal more detail of the solar corona and the Moon.
Super-heated plasma escaping from the sun creates the solar corona and becomes the solar wind that blows through our solar system at a million miles per hour. The charged particles that make up the coronal plasma follow the magnetic field lines of the sun and form streamers in the corona, like iron filings around a magnet.
Sunlight reflecting from Earth during the eclipse illuminates the Moon and bounces back to Earth as “earthshine.” Because of this earthshine, lunar features such as the “seas” and several large craters (Tycho, Copernicus, etc.) can be imaged during totality. The blue color of the Moon comes from our blue sky.