Many CIERA members travelled to the April 8th solar eclipse’s path of totality, including graduate student Imran Sultan. This photo was taken from Millinocket, Maine, the last part of the US on the path of totality.
Totality is the only time we can see the sun’s corona with our eyes, when the moon has fully eclipsed the sun. For this picture Sultan combined photos at different exposures to create an HDR image of the corona. HDR stands for high-dynamic range, a technique that results in more detailed phtos with a wider tonal range. The left picture is how the corona appeared visually to Sultan during the eclipse. In the right panel he used the Pellett method to reveal the amazing structure of the corona. During the eclipse he also took a long exposure shot that shows the details of the Moon’s surface, illuminated by earthshine (sunlight reflected off the Earth).
Sultan used a refractor telescope, DSLR camera, and a sky-tracking system to track the sun.
Credit: Imran Sultan/Northwestern/CIERA
- Science