Photographer: Mario Freitas; Mario’s Website
Summary Author: Mario Freitas
The photo above showing a spectacular
corona about the eclipsed Sun was captured on July 11, 2010 from
Easter Island. During this awe-inspiring
total solar eclipse, the narrow path of the Moon’s shadow across the Earth’s surface passed exactly over Easter Island; an isolated piece of volcanic land in the southern Pacific Ocean. The corona is the Sun’s outer atmosphere, which is only visible during an eclipse when the Moon blocks out the Sun’s blinding surface, known as the
photosphere. On the eve of this eclipse, the
Solar Dynamics Observatory registered a massive ejection of hot
plasma, thought to result from an instability of the
Sun’s magnetic field, which may have made our view of the corona even more impressive. If you look closely you can detect
Mercury and
Venus (Venus is the brighter of the two) to the right of the Sun.
Photo details: Camera Maker: Canon;Camera Model: Canon PowerShot A710 IS; Focal Length: 5.8mm; Aperture: f/2.8;Exposure Time: 0.200 s (1/5); Exposure Bias: none; Metering Mode: Center Weight; Exposure Mode: Manual; White Balance: Auto; Flash Fired: No; Color Space: sRGB
