Corona and Diamond Rings - 1 (2019 Total Solar Eclipse)
The solar corona is only visible for a few brief minutes during a total eclipse of the Sun. Because the corona encompasses an enormous range of brightness (the innermost corona is over 1000 times brighter than the outer corona), it is difficult to capture an image that resembles what the eye sees.
This image has been processed to reveal and emphasize the fine structue present in the solar corona during the total solar eclipse of July 2, 2019.
It is a composite of 72 separate exposures (1/1000 to 2.5 seconds) shot with an Vixen 90mm Fluorite refractor and a Nikon D850 DSLR. The images were combined and processed using Photoshop CC 2019. My PDF article "Digital Compositing Techniques for Coronal Imaging" is a bit dated (for example there is a discussion on digitizing negatives) but it still gives a useful description of some of the digital processing techniques I used to process my 2019 eclipse images.
Flanking the central corona are images of the Diamond Ring before and after Totality.
Totality begins when the solar crescent disappears behind the Moon's disk. Similarly, totality ends when the solar crescent reappears from behind the Moon's disk. Before and after totality the incredibly brilliant solar crescent (i.e., the diamond) is seen along one edge of the Moon, which is silhouetted by the solar corona (i.e., the ring). The diamond ring effect is short-lived and is only visible for a number of seconds before and after totality.
This image is available as a Custom Print.
Additional eclipse photos can be seen at: 2019 Total Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery.
For more information on this event, see: EclipseWise 2019 Total Solar Eclipse.
Technical Details
- Title: Corona and Diamond Rings - 1 (2019 Total Solar Eclipse)
- Date/Time: 2019 Jul 02 at 20:40 UTC
- Eclipse Circumstances: Altitude = 13°, Azimuth = 307°, HA = 3.88
- Location: Mamalluca Observatory, Vicuna, CHILE
- Mount: Orion AstroView German Equatorial Mount
- Telescope: Vixen 90mm Fluorite Refractor (90mm, f/9, fl=810mm)
- Camera: Nikon D850 DSLR
- Exposure: 1/1000 to 2.5 seconds, f/9, ISO 250
- File Name: TSE2019-Trio-det1-1w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Shadow Adjustment, Clarity, Sharpening, Noise Reduction
- Processing (Adobe Photoshop CC2019): Curves, Layers
- Rights: Copyright 2019 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.
