Astrophoto of the month - November 2022 - A mysterious solar eclipse

The 2022 Partial Solar Eclipse

Our country is small, and therefore we can experience one total solar eclipse in a century on average, however, partial solar eclipses are usually visible from our country every few years. This is what happened on October 25, 2022, when an eclipse covering nearly half of the Sun's disk could be observed. Counter to the extremely fortunate and memorable total solar eclipse on August 11, 1999, when not only the celestial phenomenon but also the weather was unusually kind to us and the weather was clear throughout the country, this October was almost completely cloud-covered, and the waning sun could be glimpsed only for moments.

The clouds and the sunlight

The astrophoto of this month is interesting and beautiful probably due to that cloudiness . The photographer, Rafael Schmall, prepared for the event in advance, and tried to capture not only an eclipse, but also an atmospheric optical phenomenon. The authors comments on capturing the photo:

The real goal was to create an eerie, wreath-like sun photo, knowing that the weather was going to be pretty bad that day. The light of the sun bends as it fights its way through the mid-level clouds and this causes the phenomenon of the so-called Solar Crown. The light of the Sun is scattered on other types of clouds, for example the middle-level, so-called on altocumulus clouds. On the significant day, the latter opportunity provided itself during the solar eclipse.

Despite all this, the pattern of the clouds and the colorful, blue-brown scattering of light gave the photographer a great compositional opportunity, which he utilized very well.