Kevin Palmer

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  • Early on November 19th the moon passed through Earth's shadow, known as the umbra. Less than 1% of the lunar surface remained lit by sunlight, just missing out on totality. Scattered clouds hid the moon much of the night.  But waiting until 2AM paid off as a brief window to the heavens opened up. One of the best parts of a lunar eclipse is watching the sky darken and more stars come out. At no other time can you see so many stars beside a full moon. This was shot at the nearby ghost town of Monarch. A century ago it was a booming coal mining town, but today there is little evidence of its existence. An old water tower on top of a hill overlooks the mostly empty river valley.
    Monarch Moon
  • Known as the "Diamond Ring" effect, this is when the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. It lasts only seconds. I was surprised by just how suddenly the sun popped out with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point. If anyone was looking through an optical instrument at this time, it would probably be the last thing they would ever see. I shot this using live view and then quickly put a solar filter back on before I fried the camera sensor.
    Diamond Ring
  • I went back and had another go at processing my solar eclipse pictures. Here I combined several shots and tried to show every feature of the eclipse that I was able to capture. There is such a huge range of light that it's impossible to capture it all in one image. The glow around the sun is called the corona. Shaped by complex magnetic fields, it consists of super-heated plasma up to 450X hotter than the solar surface. The sun's north pole is located at 10 o'clock where the magnetic field lines are shorter. The red fringes on the right are fiery solar prominences, several times the size of Earth. Also shown is the diamond ring effect, when the first bright sliver of sunlight reappears from behind the moon. Details on the lunar surface can be seen because of an effect called earthshine (not to be confused with moonshine). Sunlight is reflected off of the Earth and faintly illuminates the dark side of the moon. Regulus is the star visible on the lower left.
    Eclipse All In One
  • The solar eclipse was absolutely incredible. There's no way to capture it in 1 picture or 1,000 pictures and there's nothing really to compare it to. During the minutes surrounding totality the light changed so fast and there was so much to observe and photograph that it was overwhelming. It felt like time stood still and yet it was all over in an instant. I listened to the dozens of people around me who also climbed the 10,276' Laramie Peak to observe this eclipse. Cheering and exclamations of "WOW" were an almost involuntary reaction.<br />
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This is a composite showing 3 partial phases of the eclipse with a solar filter, as well as 3 of the features that are visible during totality. A group of sunspots was visible before being hidden by the moon. The red fringes on the left are solar prominences. Bigger than any planet, prominences are made up of dynamic loops of hot plasma and will often explode. This outer atmosphere of the sun is sculpted by it's magnetic field. The temperature of the corona is up to 450 times hotter than the surface of the sun and no one knows why. At the top right is an effect known as the "diamond ring." It is the moment the first bit of sun emerges from behind the moon. I was surprised by just how suddenly it popped out, with all the brightness of the sun concentrated into a single point.
    Multifaceted Eclipse
  • This was my favorite image of the corona during the solar eclipse. The effects of the magnetic field can be clearly seen, with the coronal streamers aligned to the north and south poles of the sun. The star Regulus is also visible on the lower left.
    Solar Corona
  • Early on November 19th the moon passed through Earth's shadow, known as the umbra. Less than 1% of the lunar surface remained lit by sunlight, just missing out on totality. Scattered clouds hid the moon much of the night. But waiting until 2AM paid off as a brief window to the heavens opened up. One of the best parts of a lunar eclipse is watching the sky darken and more stars come out. At no other time can you see so many stars beside a full moon.
    A Break in the Clouds