A gaggle of astrophotographers captured a wide ranging image of the recent “hybrid solar eclipse,” which was visible within the skies above Australia last month.
The image mainly shows off the ghostly filaments of the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, however it also caught a faint glimpse of an eruption of magnetized plasma, generally known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), exploding away from the sun.
The rare eclipse, which occurred April 20, is generally known as a hybrid because it consisted of two separate eclipses occurring at the identical time (opens in recent tab). These included a complete solar eclipse — a fleeting yet complete occultation of the sun — and an annular solar eclipse: An extended yet incomplete eclipse where a halo of plasma stays visible across the moon. Although the eclipses occurred at the identical time, most observers could only see one or the opposite depending on their location. The entire solar eclipse was only visible to individuals who were perfectly positioned consistent with the moon and the sun. Most individuals would have seen the annular eclipse as an alternative. It was the primary hybrid eclipse in greater than a decade.
Related: I watched the moon ‘take a bite of the sun’ in a rare hybrid solar eclipse last week. Here’s what I saw from Australia.
The brand new photo is a composite of a whole lot of images captured by Czech astrophotographers Petr Horálek (opens in recent tab), Josef Kujal and Milan Hlaváč from their vantage point at Pebble Beach in Recent South Wales, in line with Spaceweather.com (opens in recent tab). The combined image showed the height of the whole solar eclipse, generally known as totality, which lasted for around a minute and was the one time the sun’s corona was fully visible. Nonetheless, the detail captured in the brand new image is “rather more than the human eye could see,” Horálek told Spaceweather.com.
The astrophotographers were hoping to get a glimpse of the corona on the day, but they didn’t expect to also see a CME erupting away from the sun. Within the group’s image, the CME is barely visible. But when it’s overlaid on a coronagraph taken by NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory at the identical time, the stellar explosion becomes clear to see.
Related: Stunning solar eclipse caught by NASA in incredible closeup
The sun’s corona is especially strong in the brand new image, which reflects a rise in solar activity because the sun approaches the height of an 11-year cycle, generally known as the solar maximum, which is scheduled to reach in the subsequent few years. The unexpected CME is further evidence that the sun’s activity is ramping up.
The image also shows the long-lasting “diamond ring” phenomenon, where the sun begins to maneuver round from behind the moon as totality involves an end.
The consequences of the hybrid solar eclipse is also seen from space. The identical day, Japan’s Hakuto-R lunar lander, which later crashed into the moon (opens in recent tab) because it attempted to land on the lunar surface on Tuesday (April 25), snapped a surprising “Earthrise” image of our planet peeking out from behind the moon (opens in recent tab). On this shot, Australia continues to be covered by the moon’s shadow and appears as a big, dark patch on the planet’s surface.
Previously, solar eclipses have also provided opportunities for astrophotographers to capture once-in-a-lifetime shots, akin to the award-winning “Golden Ring,” (opens in recent tab) which was taken by Chinese photographer Shuchang Dong during an eclipse above Tibet in 2020.