APOD: Diamond Ring and Shadow Bands (2010 Jul 24)

[APOD Robot]

Diamond Ring and Shadow Bands

Explanation: As the total phase of July 11's solar eclipse came to an end, sunlight streaming past the edge of the Moon's silhouette created the fleeting appearance of a glistening diamond ring in the sky. Seen through a thin cloud layer from the French Polynesian atoll of Hao it also produced remarkable shadow bands, flickering across the dramatic scene. Projected onto the cloud layer, the shadow bands are parallel to the sliver of sunlight emerging from behind the Moon's edge. Caused by turbulence in Earth's atmosphere refracting the sliver of sunlight, the narrow bands were captured in this brief, 1/400th second exposure. Shining through the cloud droplets, the sunlight also produced a luminous atmospheric corona, not to be confused with the solar corona seen during eclipse totality. The atmospheric corona is centered on the bright diamond of emerging sunlight.

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[orin stepanek]

The picture is unique; as I never seen anything like it. The shadow bands! Wow; nature can really come up with unusual sights.

[biddie67]

What a fascinating photo - it shows so many of the different phenomena surrounding a solar eclipse all at the same time. The shadow lines almost make it look like an old wood carving or lithograph.

Was this photo extracted from a very fast video sequence taken of the whole eclipse? It seems almost humanly impossible for a human finger to push the camera's button at exactly the crucial moment for a 1/400th second exposure ...

[León]

The Moon moves away from one centimeter per year, so that in two million years I started to not cover the solar disk and therefore there will be no more eclipses. True as the sun is not reduced in size, with the expulsion of matter because the eruptions take much to become a red giant and expand its size, something that I personally consider it unlikely, of course, have no chance to prove otherwise .

As for the diamond brilliance attributed to ice crystals, is a new chapter that will be the subject of lengthy treatises on the water and its presence throughout the galactic interstellar medium, which has only recently been incorporated into the knowledge of the contribution of the Hubble before invisible by the interference of atmospheric moisture such as that endured in our short vacation.

Yesterday we see the basic elements in the nebula from which the water molecules will be born of difficult reduction in the future that occupied the space if not as gods or as waste.

[steve schneider]

Was this photo extracted from a very fast video sequence taken of the whole eclipse? It seems almost humanly impossible for a human finger to push the camera's button at exactly the crucial moment for a 1/400th second exposure ...

Hi biddie67: The shadow bands appeared throughout the diamond ring phase and showed up in 6 or 7 of my photos, as well as several others' photos in our eclipse traveler group. The wave structure shifted pattern and grew more diffuse as the "diamond" grew brighter. A long exposure would probably have washed out some of the band structure.

[moonstruck]

Very nice job Steven.

[Pmisson]

We cachit also in Rapa Nui, nice job Steven.
http://eclipseucm.blogspot.com/2010/07/ ... ombra.html

¿Have you any web to see the rest os your photos?

[steve schneider]

We cachit also in Rapa Nui, nice job Steven.

¿Have you any web to see the rest os your photos?

Beautiful pictures on your blog! I'm putting together a website for our group, and will let you know when I finish it. In the meantime I sent in this particular picture to the APOD folks last week because I couldn't find any past references to shadow bands in the clouds. I also liked the atmospheric corona around the solar corona, although some in our group have some nice tighter shots with the banding too. I wonder how frequently this occurs?

[pmisson]

It was the first time we get notice of this effect.
We have show bands many times but always in the floor.

We send it two days before your APOD.
I suposed our photos has confirm your's.

[steve schneider]

¿Have you any web to see the rest os your photos?

A few dozen pictures from first and third contact photographed by our group are now posted here:
http://redshift0.com/Shadow-Bands/photos/

[bystander]

Great pictures, Steve, although I think maybe you should group them by camera.

The sun dancing all over the sky is a bit unnerving. Thanks for the link.

[Pmisson]

Thanks, but had you clouds in all the eclipse?

The photos are great.

[Beyond]

The best picture of the bunch is the last one where He caught the "Diamond" changing into an "Emerald."