Compositing Eclipse Images from the Ground and from Space

Abstract

We present composite white-light images of the 2019 July 2, total solar eclipse, from the minimum of the solar-activity cycle. We exhibit high-resolution high dynamic range composites from three observation sites in Chile, including one made of 646 individual ground-based images and with such a wide field it exceeds the field of view of the Naval Research Laboratory’s C2 and C3 coronagraphs aboard ESA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. We compare the resolution of the coronal streamers and other magnetic phenomena of the corona. We also show continuity of features on the solar surface as observed from NOAA’s GOES-16 and GOES-17 Solar Ultraviolet Imager.

Early results from the solar-minimum 2019 total solar eclipse

“…This was presented within two days after the eclipse in a NASA on-line display that allowed users to move a sliding vertical bar to transition between the prediction and the observed image to aid in the comparison †. We also reported the comparison to an American Astronomical Society meeting (Pasachoff et al 2020;Lockwood et al 2020).…”