Everyone loves images of total solar eclipses. The first set I posted, from the March 29, 2006 event, proved popular. So, again looking forward to the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse that will cross the United States, here’s a gallery of images from a similar event that took place August 1, 2008.
The total phase of the eclipse began in northern Canada, then the track spent a lot of time over open water until it contacted Russia. Finally, people living under clear skies in parts of China and Mongolia experienced totality. The shadow’s last contact with Earth was in the province of Henan. The greatest duration of totality was 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
This imager captured and stacked multiple shots of the eclipse above the Ob Reservoir outside Novosibirsk, Russia. // Ben Cooper
First contact occurs when the Moon takes the initial bite out of the Sun’s disk. // Mike Stegina
The diamond ring combines the last look at the Sun’s brilliant disk with the first glimpse of the evanescent corona. // Ben Cooper
This sequence of stacked images shows Baily’s beads (left) progressing into totality. // Tunç Tezel
Advanced processing techniques brought out much detail in the Sun’s corona. // Anthony Ayiomamitis
Without a lot of processing — and to the eye — the corona has a rather soft appearance. // Anthony Ayiomamitis
Heavy (but careful) processing can reveal small coronal streamers and other details. // Patrick Martinez
Some imagers like to combine their shots into a montage. // Ben Cooper
Different filters, different cameras, and different numbers of images produce different montages. // Anthony Ayiomamitis
Combining several dozen shots provides an overview of the eclipse’s highlights. // Tunç Tezel