Ultimate moon shot reveals the sun's flare

(Image: Miloslav Druckmuller, Peter Aniol, Martin Dietzel, Vojtech Rusin/Science Faction/Corbis)

EERIE at best, terrifying at worst, this 2009 solar eclipse was a monster. Maximum totality ? when the sun is completely covered by the moon ? in this case lasted a whopping 6.6 minutes, and won't be repeated on such a scale until 2132. Czech photographer Miloslav Druckm?ller and his daughter witnessed the spectacle from the Enewetak Radiological Observatory on the Marshall Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, which fell within the narrow path of total darkness cast across the globe.

But Druckm?ller wasn't there merely as a dad or even as a photographer ? although he shot 80 images during totality and made this image from a composite of 30. He was part of the sinister-sounding shadow-tracking expedition.

Shadow trackers record solar eclipses from various places to study changes in the sun's upper atmosphere, the corona. One of the big solar mysteries ? apart from the brain-scrambling plot of Danny Boyle's film Sunshine ? is why the temperature of the sun's corona, at 1 million ?C, is 400 times hotter than its surface. Shadow trackers hope to provide an answer.

This article appeared in print under the headline "Heart of darkness"

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

Have your say

Only subscribers may leave comments on this article. Please log in.

Only personal subscribers may leave comments on this article

Subscribe now to comment.

All comments should respect the New Scientist House Rules. If you think a particular comment breaks these rules then please use the "Report" link in that comment to report it to us.

If you are having a technical problem posting a comment, please contact technical support.

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/2eacd052/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Carticle0Cmg21929250A0B10A0A0Eultimate0Emoon0Eshot0Ereveals0Ethe0Esuns0Eflare0Bhtml0Dcmpid0FRSS0QNSNS0Q20A120EGLOBAL0Qonline0Enews/story01.htm

good friday Dufnering What Is Good Friday Monsanto Protection Act Jenna Wolfe Jarome Iginla Jessica Brown Findlay