On April 20, 2023 a unique hybrid solar eclipse occurred over the Indian Ocean, Australia, and Indonesia, making the opportunity to see a ghostly corona for up to 1 minute in the central line above Exmouth of Australia. I was lucky to get there for the spectacular phenomenon. Here are some first results of the phenomenon and also the atmosphere around it. Excitements were huge over the Pebble Beach, where over 300 people parked their cars to see the 1-minute totality with huge prominence and solar-max-shaped corona.
During the unique hybrid eclipse of April 20, 2023, over Australia’s Pebble Beach, I also took a very fast sequence (3 images per second) to show the story of the eclipse as a sequence showing all the visible solar layers of its atmosphere. While the darkest moment, the totality (in the center) was perfect for capturing the glancing glow of the solar corona, the start and ending of the show were perfect for the solar photosphere’s beads show (the Baily’s Beads) as the almost-same-angularly-sized mountainous Moon observation. The whole time bright pink prominences above the chromosphere layer were visible as bright pearls around the Sun. Since we were located very close to the central line of the eclipse the image shows the phenomenon pretty symmetrical.
The image above is the result of imaging with Canon 6D, Tamron70-200mm@200mm, f2.8, 38 vary exposures (from 1/4000 to 2s exposures), ISO 100, dark frames, and flat fields applied. The orientation of the image is not exactly north-south (to preserve the full field of view). You can notice CME events in the solar corona as well. Some reflections made the result worse considering there was only 1 minute to take the image sequence, but the final view reveals more than was visible to the naked eye. The image shows the moment of the diamond ring phenomenon when the eclipse ends. Co-authors are Josef Kujal (of the Astronomy Society of Hradec Králové) and Milan Hlaváč.
And above comes a bit more sophisticated image of the solar corona during a recent hybrid eclipse. The image taken from Pebble Beach, Australia, is the result of deeper bracketing work, including 61 different exposures from 3 cameras (all on 1m telephoto lenses) and calibration data. The orientation of the image is not exactly north-south (to preserve the full field of view). You can notice several bright prominecnes, which were visible even to the naked eyes during the 1-minute-long total solar eclipse as the Moon as it reflected the Earthshine. The image shows the moment of the diamond ring phenomenon when the epic eclipse ends. Used two 1100mm tepehoto lenses wit Canon 6D cameras and one 1400mm telephoto lens with Canon 6D Mark II, all on two on Vixen GP-2 mounts. Two identic 1100mm sets produced 30 exposures (from 1/500 to 4s), total 60 exposures, the 1400mm only 1/500s shot of detailed prominences. Darkframes, and flat fields were applied. Below, the image from same data shows the maximum phase of the eclipse.
Authors are Petr Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava), Josef Kujal (of the Astronomy Society of Hradec Králové), Milan Hlaváč. We would like to thank to Petr Komárek (Observatory Pardubice), and Tomáš Slovinský, who provided us additional equipment for successful photography of this phenomenon.
Video: 4K timelapse
A short 4K timelapse view to the total solar eclipse on 20 April 2023, taken from Pebble Beach of Exmouth, Western Australia. You can notice several bright and large prominences seen during the 1-minute-long totality with some slight changes during the phenomenon. Timelapse is created from a quick sequence of 1/500s exposures with 1400mm telephoto lens (ISO 100, tracked on a mount) and Canon 6D Mark II. Credit: Petr Horálek (Institute of Physics in Opava), Josef Kujal (of the Astronomy Society of Hradec Králové), Milan Hlaváč, Petr Komárek (Observatory Pardubice), and Tomáš Slovinský.
More images (single shots)