Sun Setting Behind Mount Etna
February 23, 2021
Photographer: Marcella Pace
Summary Author: Marcella Pace
The photos above show the Sun setting behind the Mount Etna (10,892 ft or 3,320 m) summit crater complex in Sicily, Italy. It’s a composition of two shots from the same location without changing the frame; one of the Sun using a solar filter, one with no filter for when the Sun had moved out of frame. I calculated the ideal position to get the most dramatic shot. Note that although no sunspots are visible here, the solar disk was partially obscured by smoke from the volcano's multiple summit craters. When these photos were snapped, and during the days before, there was activity from the Voragine Crater as well as blasts and discontinuous emissions of ash from the Northeast Crater and the New Southeast Crater. Photos taken on February 18, 2020. Click here to see a video showing how refraction deforms the edge of the solar disk.
Photo Details: Canon SX 60Hs camera. With Sun - 247 mm; 1/6 second exposure; f/8; ISO 100 and astrosolar filter. No filter – 247 mm; f/8; ISO 100. The video was shot with a Nikon Coolpix P1000 camera; equipped with an astrosolar filter; Nikon D7100 lens; sequence of 720 photos at one-second intervals; f/20; 1/350-second exposure; ISO 100.