Solar Prominences

So many events happen during the brief solar eclipse, it's almost impossible to experience them all, and even more difficult to photograph them all. Camera settings and equipment can be very different for each phase, and some phases only last a matter of seconds. In the case of the sun's chromosphere, this took place at 3:05 and 54 seconds, and ended at 3:05 and 55 seconds - yes, one second! One second to assess, adjust, and execute. Well, I may or may not have captured this one second event, but in this photo, solar prominences are visible along with the bright red color of burning hydrogen.

These prominences are loops of hydrogen plasma from the sun's surface up into it's atmosphere, and these are actually larger than the earth, extending hundreds of thousands of miles away from the surface. According to the Holcolm Observatory, the one in the top photo measures three times the diameter of earth!

Generally, one needs to use special equipment to see these effects, often including a hydrogen-alpha filter that captures the wavelength of light these give off. Hydrogen-alpha filters are very expensive (I wanted to use one for the eclipse phases until I priced them), so I waited for nature to do the work for me. During totality and a few moments prior and after, solar prominences are visible without the aid of special filters. There was plenty of activity on April 8, 2024, so the eclipse did not disappoint. 

Following totality, a large prominence was visible near the south pole of the sun. Looking a lot like a tongue of fire, the plasma loop stood out against the black surface of the moon, and the blackness of space. 

   

Here, Baily's beads were just finishing up, and a bit of the sun's chromosphere is visible - the thin, bright red outline around the moon.
Once again, photography has persuaded me perform a deep-dive into a subject to find out more and more about the things I've seen behind the camera.