The Invisible Crown made visible: Solar corona 8 April 2024 (Bruce Larsen)

The Invisible Crown made visible: Solar corona 8 April 2024

Capturing the wonder of a total eclipse is not truly possible. Photos can't quite capture the entire context, the strange lighting followed by increasing darkness gathering around you, the ominous drop in temperature, and the sudden appearance of a blazing black hole in the sky. Just as a picture of a waterfall doesn't capture the feeling of the mist and the roar of a cascade, my best attempt to capture the eclipse is only an approximation of reality.

I credit Russell Brown's excellent YouTube videos on eclipse processing, (https://youtu.be/Smn-fUJUadQ?si=Yi6v3lJIS3VvR9-W and https://youtu.be/G2u7J-pgwwM?si=MWFSfsVJUhPvFj0f)
as well as Leo Schatz's beta-Planetary Tracking in PHD for tracking the sun and keeping the eclipse exactly centered, and Gordon Telepun's Eclipse Timer app. Backyard Nikon allowed me with two clicks to sit back and enjoy the rest of totality while the bracketing sequence ran. This shot is a mean HDR composite of 14 exposures, starting at 1/4000s, ending at 4s, at ISO 100.

Original
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Final
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B

Title: Complete Revision of 8 April 2024 Totality

Description: This was a much more careful processing attempt, using calibration frames to remove dust motes, a starless version to minimize artifact when using radial blur in PS, slight boost of color saturation to the stars, and addition of an attempt at adding Earthshine on the moon. Tried to preserve some of the prominences, which were gorgeous through binoculars during totality. Thanks to my brother @darkdesertdome for helping make the most of this hard-won data!

Uploaded: ...

C

Title: Totality with and without Earthshine

Description: I added a version without Earthshine, with a mouseover to my Earthshine version. If trying share reality, the version with a deep black moon is closer to reality. However, I had to do an earthshine version because everyone does and it's one of the joys of astronomy to see things that our eyes can't.

Uploaded: ...

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