Last Thursday's Solar Eclipse

[OzEclipse]

A few quick images of last Thursday's solar eclipse from Exmouth, my 15th total eclipse. I don't have an AP Starfire 155 like Peter. :shrug: So these were taken with a $400 refractor and a 135mm lens.

The shape of the corona was more what I'd expect from a solar minimum not solar maximum. The visual view through an ST80 refractor was simply stunning with all that chromosphere and prominences. The suspended prom was 140000 km 11 Earth diameters high.

These are all single images. Have not had time to do any composites yet.

I was running 4 cameras of my own, and one more for a friend back east.

Cam 1 Full frame with ED80 f6: focus left a bit to be desired...Grrrr You can see it in the posted image.

Cam 2 APSC WITH 135mm f2 capturing outer corona

Cam 3 Full frame with 200mm capturing outer corona (my friends camera and lens, my tracking mount, joint project)

Cam 4 APSc camera for "snaps" of the group etc.

Cam 5 APSc HD Video capturing wide angle video of the umbral passage.The video captured two flocks of corellas, a species of parrot, flying during totality.

cheers
Joe Cali

[Dave882]

Wow stunning shots!!! That second one with the ed80 k1 combo is jaw dropping with all its detail!!!!

[N1]

Great stuff. Love the diamond ring. Looks to be upside down though (assuming it was at 3rd contact)?

[John W]

All great images Joe - well done. Cheers, John W.

[OzEclipse]

Hi Mirko,

Thanks for your comment.

Yes, the diamond ring image is titled "Third Contact". Perhaps you are viewing it with a phone and looking at a cropped image?

Joe

[Tropo-Bob]

Those are great shots. In fact, they are best eclipse shots that I have ever seen!

[By.Jove]

Very nice, Joe.

I might have a go in 2028 but I'm sure many others will have far better gear than me.

NB did you use HDR exposure stacking for shot 3 ?

[OzEclipse]

Hi Jove,
Shot number.3 is a single exposure processed to extract maximum dynamic range from a single image. Modern cameras have very high dynamic range.

I will do a HDR stack of multiple images later when I have more time. All these are single exposures.

The gear I use is relatively cheap. Don’t be put off because you don’t have premium gear. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have used the ED80. Even though I have replaced the focuser it’s still not great. I’ve always had much better results with my William Optics M70.

I will say that while I always do photography at eclipses, my priority is always visual observation. Any photography I perform has to require minimum effort and not distract from my visual observations. Some do this by using a computer and script to control cameras. I use the inbuilt 10 stop bracketing, two overlapping exposure spans set in two adjacent custom user modes in my camera. The ED80 only required me to switch from user mode 1 to 2 then back to 1 with an intervalometer. I can do that without looking at the camera. Other cameras ran unattended. For this eclipse I used a separate ST80 for visual observation. When I travel overseas and totality is longer I have a flip mirror with parfocalised camera and eyepiece to save weight in the suitcase.

Joe

[h0ughy]

Nice views of that eclipse Joe

[gregbradley]

Fabulous Joe.

Greg.

[Retrograde]

Great pics Joe!:thumbsup:

[PhilTas]

Thank you for sharing Joe.
These images are excellent!!!

[Tulloch]

Great images :)

[Taine_Astro]

Incredible images

[Anth10]

Congrats Joe - absolutely brilliant images and another total eclipse to your long list- an amazing achievement!

Anthony

[BlackNebula]

Crazy good pictures, just WoW!!

[Averton]

Excellent images Joe, that must have been a spectacular event :)

[Derek Klepp]

Cheers Joe well worth the trip.

[Peter Ward]

Nice one Joe. Safe travels to "the Eastern States". :)

[Rainmaker]

Great images Joe, Bengt would have loved this eclipse, though he may have watched it from above.

[OzEclipse]

Thanks Matt,
He asked me to get him to future eclipses any way i could. He was referring to when he was immobile but still living.

Best I could do now was attach a portrait of him to the tripod of the scope. I also put eclipse glasses on his pic during partial phases. :thumbsup:

[Paul Haese]

Nice shots Joe. It was our fourth total. What struck me this time around was that the coronal streamers were more visible to me this time than previous times. I also noted that it looked considerably brighter than previous eclipses. I put that down to the narrow geometry between the Sun and Moon. It was our first eclipse where we have seen the inner corona and it struck me as being incredibly bright. Perhaps this is why the corona did not have that family fluffy donut look to it for me. Though perhaps my eyes are not what they were 10 years ago. In any event you captured the event well for such a short eclipse. Though not as short as 2002.

[OzEclipse]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for your comments. These are all first pass from single images. Like many who viewed from Exmouth I am still travelling. Ceduna tonight and Adelaide on Saturday. I have been doing bits and pieces of composite editing and video editing but it will have to wait until I get back.

I think the narrow geometry was part of the explanation. The inner corona and chromosphere was very active. Through my 80mm refractor that single vertical Roman candle prom that was later identified as a CME was incredibly bright, so bright that I had difficulty seeing it as red. This doesn’t make sense because eyes don’t saturate like a sensor. Yet I recall being surprised that it was quite white. 80mm f5 refractor with Denkmeier D21 eyepiece. 20X, 4mm exit pupil.

Of course the telescope observation was rushed. Maybe my memory was playing tricks on me. Still a luxury to have 54 s compared to the meagrely 18 s of totality I had in 2002. Short eclipses are obviously short but this and the small diametric ratios makes them action packed and dynamic compared to long duration eclipses.

A 40km umbra doesn’t cover much of the sky. That’s why it didn’t get particularly dark and I think that brighter sky in turn reduced visibility of the faint outer corona.

Regards

Joe

[Paul Haese]

I completely concur that the brightness of that CME (prominence) did not show itself as red. It was near white to my eyes. In fact I didn't see a single prominence during this eclipse but others say they did. The corona all appeared as bright white. And, I think the overall coverage did contribute to less visibility of the corona in general.