On April 20, 2023 the shadow of a
New Moon raced
across planet Earth's southern hemisphere.
When viewed
along a narrow path that mostly avoided landfall,
the Moon in silhouette created a
hybrid solar eclipse.
Hybrid eclipses are rare and can be seen as a total eclipse
or an annular "
ring of fire"
eclipse depending on the observer's position.
Viewers of this much anticipated hybrid event
were able to witness a total solar eclipse while
anchored in the Indian Ocean near the centerline of the eclipse track
off the coast of western Australia.
This ship-borne image from
renowned eclipse chaser
Fred Espenak captured the active Sun's magnificent outer atmosphere, or
solar
corona, streaming into space.
The composite of 11 exposures ranging from 1/2000 to 1/2 second,
taken during the 62 seconds of totality,
records an extended range of brightness
to follow alluring details of the corona not quite visible to the eye.