APOD: Corona from Svalbard (2015 Mar 31)

[APOD Robot]

Corona from Svalbard

Explanation: During a total solar eclipse, the Sun's extensive outer atmosphere, or corona, is an inspirational sight. Streamers and shimmering features that engage the eye span a brightness range of over 10,000 to 1, making them notoriously difficult to capture in a single photograph. But this composite of 29 telescopic images covers a wide range of exposure times to reveal the crown of the Sun in all its glory. The aligned and stacked digital frames were recorded in the cold, clear skies above the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard, Norway during the Sun's total eclipse on March 20 and also show solar prominences extending just beyond the edge of the solar disk. Remarkably, even small details on the dark night side of the New Moon can be made out, illuminated by sunlight reflected from a Full Earth. Of course, fortunes will be reversed on April 4 as a Full Moon plunges into the shadow of a New Earth, during a total lunar eclipse.

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[starsurfer]

Miloslav Druckmüller is really good at bringing out the subtle details in an eclipse! Another fine photo to add to his collection!

[Ron-Astro Pharmacist]

The NASA fiction link was a nice touch. I'm sure there have been images from the moon or its orbit but I can't remember seeing a photo of the Earth and sky devoid of the sun with only the stars and Earthshine providing light from that visible portion of the celestial globe.

I've never seen a total eclipse of the sun from Earth either so 2017 can't get here soon enough. I'll be ready. Somewhere close by they'll be no clouds or I will be gruff too. I do enjoy fiction that realistically provides a glimpse of the future. Just like the teaser.

Edit: Might have to do with an animation

Total lunar eclipse as seen from the Moon’s point of view.
Credit: NASA Scientific Visualization Studio animation still

[FloridaMike]

The NASA fiction link was a nice touch....

Thanks for mentioning it, would have missed it otherwise.

[AmesBiker]

I'm not very good at tracking these things down so I'll ask here... There are two small "stars" on the left and one in the upper right that is larger. Are they planets or stars (or artifacts in the picture)?

[neufer]

There are two small "stars" on the left and one in the upper right that is larger. Are they planets or stars (or artifacts in the picture)?

• They are a couple of 6th magnitude Pisces stars [HD 6 & HD 22402]
  straddling both the celestial equator and the vernal equinox.

[Ann]

HD 22402 is in Perseus, according to my software.

Also Mercury, currently magnitude -1.1, is close to HD 6. Admittedly it might not have been so close to HD 6 during the actual solar eclipse.

Ann

[Joe Stieber]

There are two small "stars" on the left and one in the upper right that is larger. Are they planets or stars (or artifacts in the picture)?

The two fainter stars to the left of the sun in this image are HD 224677 (mag 6.9) and HD 224726 (mag 7.8), the former being the one closer to the sun. Both are south of the ecliptic and the celestial equator, and both are slightly east of the vernal equinox (using the apparent coordinates for the current date rather than the J2000 epoch). The brighter star to the upper-right of the sun is HD 224062 (mag 5.8). It's north of both the ecliptic and the celestial equator and is a little west of the vernal equinox. All three of these stars are less than a degree from the center of the sun. At the time, HD 6 was about 2 degrees east of the sun and out of the frame while Mercury was about 18 degrees west of the sun and way out of the frame.

[neufer]

HD 22402 is in Perseus, according to my software.

• My bad(; I dropped a '6') : HD 224062

Also Mercury, currently magnitude -1.1, is close to HD 6.
Admittedly it might not have been so close to HD 6 during the actual solar eclipse.

Mercury was 16º (~64 solar radii) to the right and barely above the horizon.

Uranus is slightly closer: about 16º (~60 solar radii) to the left.

The two fainter stars to the left of the sun in this image are HD 224677 (mag 6.9) and HD 224726 (mag 7.8), the former being the one closer to the sun. Both are south of the ecliptic and the celestial equator, and both are slightly east of the vernal equinox (using the apparent coordinates for the current date rather than the J2000 epoch). The brighter star to the upper-right of the sun is HD 224062 (mag 5.8). It's north of both the ecliptic and the celestial equator and is a little west of the vernal equinox. All three of these stars are less than a degree from the center of the sun. At the time, HD 6 was about 2 degrees east of the sun and out of the frame while Mercury was about 18 degrees west of the sun and way out of the frame.

Well...if I hadn't mistyped I would have gotten one out of two.

[DavidCortner]

And that is what Jonathan Kern and Wendy Carlos had in mind all those years ago using radial masks and endless darkroom work. Lovely.