HAO Eclipse Archive
Newkirk White Light Coronal Camera
These images were obtained with the Newkirk White Light Coronal Camera (Newkirk WLCC), a camera system developed by Gordon A. Newkirk, Jr. This specialized instrument photographs the corona in red light, 6500 A -- through a radially graded filter that suppresses the bright inner corona in order to show the much fainter streamers of the outer corona in the same photograph.
If you use the images above, please credit HAO and Rhodes College for the 1980 and 1991 eclipse images, and HAO for the 1966, 1970, 1973, 1981, 1983, 1988 and 1994 eclipse images. Credit should be something similar to 19?? eclipse image courtesy Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee, and High Altitude Observatory (HAO), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Colorado. UCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. -or- 19?? eclipse image courtesy High Altitude Observatory (HAO), University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Colorado. UCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
POISE Instrument
The POISE has an aperture of 80 mm, an effective focal length of 1000 mm, and a field of view of 6.5X6.5 solar radii on a Loral CCD with 2034X2034 pixels. The pixel size is 3.1X3.1 arc seconds. The spectral band of the image is set by an Andover filter with a central wavelength of 620 nm and a bandwidth of 10 nm. The CCD camera is a Pixel Vision Spectra Video camera with 16 bit digitization, an electron well depth of 95,000 electrons, and a read noise 20 electrons. The polarization analyzer contains fixed linear and quarter wave polarizers together with a Meadowlark Optics liquid crystal variable retarder. The POISE98 images can be processed numerically to remove the radial gradient due to the rapid outward decrease in the coronal density. This numerical 'flattening' replaces the radially graded optical filter used in the photographic Newkirk camera which was used in previous HAO eclipse expeditions.
Historical Photos
Other Eclipse Websites
- International Astronomical Union - Links and info about past and upcoming solar eclipses.
- Williams College Solar Eclipse Expeditions - Info and images of the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Williams College eclipse expeditions.
- Jonathan Kern's Eclipse Archive - Directory listing of web pages for the 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2006 Williams College eclipse expeditions (Jonathan Kern is affiliated with the Observatories of the Carnegie Institution of Washington).
Additional 1991 Eclipse Information
The total solar eclipse of 1991 July 11, was photographed from Mauna Loa, Hawaii, by a research team from the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado and Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennesee. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
The photograph of the solar corona was taken with a camera system developed by Gordon A. Newkirk, Jr. This specialized instrument photographs the corona in red light, 6500 A -- through a radially graded filter that suppresses the bright inner corona in order to show the much fainter streamers of the outer corona in the same photograph.
In using this image, you must credit: High Altitude Observatory and Rhodes College.
Technical Information for image
Time: 17:31:11 UT
Pangle: 1.60 degrees Heliocentric north is 1.6 degrees counter
clockwise of vertical. Vertical (top) is
geocentric north. Left, (9 o'clock) is east.
To assist in orientation, the darkest region is to
the NORTH (top). There is a bright "hook" prominence
in the NORTHWEST (upper right) and a barely visible
prominence in the SOUTHWEST (lower right). There
are several dots of prominences just slightly
SOUTH of EAST (left, and just a little down).
Objective aperture 11.4 cm
Focal length 178 cm
Focal ratio f/15
Film Kodak Technical Pan / 2415
Development D19 - 5 minutes (Film was developed at Sacramento Peak
Observatory by Lou Gilliam)
Wavelength isolation filer - Schott OG-3
Effective wavelength - 6500 A
Exposure 27 seconds
Radial filter range - 10^4 in transmission.
Note: There are round dark circular artifacts in the image. These are
the result of out of focus dust within the telescope.
]
Additional image sizes and formats:
- reduced scale image, gif format, 81251 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- FULL SCALE image, gif format, 287525 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- FULL SCALE image, tiff format, 761248 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- SPECIAL image, tiff format, 1923720 bytes (Uncalibrated)
Additional 1998 Eclipse Information
The High Altitude Observatory sent two crews to analyze the total solar eclipse on Thursday, 26 February 1998. One team, in collaboration with Don Hassler of Southwest Research Institute, Boulder Colorado, was stationed on the ground at Curaçao. The other team, led by Profs. Bob MacQueen (Rhodes College) and Jeff Kuhn (Michigan State University [MSU] and National Solar Observatory [NSO]) included other researchers from Rhodes, NSO, MSU and from Max Planck Institute for Aeronomy in Lindau Germany, as well as HAO. The latter team viewed the eclipse from the NCAR C-130 research aircraft, flying from Howard Air Force Base near Panama City. The eclipse took place in these areas between 10:00AM and 12:00PM MST.
This image was taken with the POISE instrument by the HAO Eclipse Team in Curaçao at ~18:11 UT. In using this image, you must credit: High Altitude Observatory and Rhodes College.
Additional image sizes and formats:
- reduced scale image, gif format, 88669 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- reduced scale image, tiff format, 225226 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- FULL SCALE image, gif format, 2949067 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- FULL SCALE image, tiff format, 3584106 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- FULL SCALE image / FALSE COLOR, tiff format, 2931716 bytes (Uncalibrated)
- PEPPI Eclipse image, tiff format. This uncalibrated, enhanced image was taken by the HAO Eclipse Team in Curacao at ~18:12 UT.
- PEPPI Eclipse animation merged gif format (1.4Mb). This animation of (averaged, enhanced) PEPPI images shows some changes in polar plumes. Can you spot them?
Southwest Research Institute:
Check out the eclipse data from Southwest Research Institute.
- SRI Eclipse animation, merged gif format (2Mb)
Mauna Loa Solar Observatory:
The Mk3 Coronameter, located at the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (MLSO) on the big island of Hawaii, collected coronal data on eclipse day. This an average of images taken between 17:36 and 18:43 UT. The eclipse itself was not visible from Hawaii.
'Scarab' Image
Enhanced, calibrated "Intensity" image of the solar corona made at the total solar eclipse on 26 February 1998 in Curacao, Netherlands Antilles, with the HAO Polarimetric Instrument for the Solar Eclipse 1998 (POISE98). This image shows both the plumes at the solar poles and the coronal streamers nearer the Sun's equator at onset of Solar Cycle 23.
The POISE has an aperture of 80 mm, an effective focal length of 1000 mm, and a field of view of 6.5X6.5 solar radii on a Loral CCD with 2034X2034 pixels. The pixel size is 3.1X3.1 arc seconds. The spectral band of the image is set by an Andover filter with a central wavelength of 620 nm and a bandwidth of 10 nm. The CCD camera is a Pixel Vision Spectra Video camera with 16 bit digitization, an electron well depth of 95,000 electrons, and a read noise 20 electrons. The polarization analyzer contains fixed linear and quarter wave polarizers together with a Meadowlark Optics liquid crystal variable retarder. This image is a calibrated "intensity" composite of a series of 0.25, 1.0 and 4 second exposures.
The POISE98 images can be processed numerically to remove the radial gradient due to the rapid outward decrease in the coronal density. This numerical 'flattening' replaces the radially graded optical filter used in the photographic Newkirk camera which was used in previous HAO eclipse expeditions.
Specifically, the processing involved to produce this image was: dividing a r^-5 filtered, 2-D sobel filtered image, by a r^-5 filtered image. This results in great edge enhancements and discernibility of fine structure in the data. Such fine details improve understanding of a fundamental solar physics question: "Why is the solar corona so hot, and how does it get that way?"
Is is known that most of the heating occurs very close to the solar limb, that is, very low in the corona. And, is only at eclipses where one can observe the corona in this region.
The HAO expedition team for the '98 eclipse is Alice Lecinski, Kim Streander, David Elmore, Greg Card, Bruce Lites, and Steve Tomczyk. David Elmore developed and perfected the calibration and filtering procedure. Alice Lecinski assisted. O.R. White provided editting support, and wrote much of the above caption. R. Lull provided instrumentation support.
The High Altitude Observatory is a division of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is operated by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research under contract with U.S. National Science Foundation.
- edge enhanced image / FALSE COLOR, gif format, 1338547 bytes. Calibrated intensity data run through various filters and processing to enhance edges and fine structure.
- edge enhanced image / FALSE COLOR, ps format, 32507617 bytes. Calibrated intensity data run through various filters and processing to enhance edges and fine structure.
- edge enhanced image / FALSE COLOR, tiff format, 1335288 bytes. Calibrated intensity data run through various filters and processing to enhance edges and fine structure.
Comparison of 1980 and 1994 Eclipses
Eclipse images from 16 February 1980 Palem, India and 3 November 1994 Putre, Chile.
The 1980 eclipse occurred near solar maximum, and the 1994 eclipse near solar minimum. It is therefore very interesting to compare images from these two times as the contrast in complexity of solar coronal structure is quite apparent.
TIFF, PostScript, false color TIFF, false color postscript
Eclipse image from 16 February 1980 Palem, India
The total solar eclipse of 16 February 1980, photographed at Palem, India, by a research team from the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, and Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee. Members of the team were John L. Streete and Leon B. Lacey. The expedition was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
This photograph of the solar corona was taken with a camera developed by Gordon A. Newkirk, Jr. This specialized instrument photographs the corona in red light -- 6400A -- through a radially graded filter that suppresses the bright inner corona in order to show the much fainter streamers of the outer corona in the same photograph.
Credit image to: High Altitude Observatory and Rhodes College. The High Altitude Observatory is a division of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, USA. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Technical Information for image
The image has been rotated to heliocentric coordinates. North is to the top, East to the left. objective apperature - 11.1 cm focal length - 178 cm focal ratio - F1/15 film - Kodak Linagraph Shellburst (70mm) development - D-76 (1:1) 8.5 min filter - Schott OG-3 effective wavelength - 6400A exposure - 24 seconds radial filter range - 10^4 in transmission
Eclipse image from 3 November 1994 Putre, Chile
The total solar eclipse of 4 November 1994, photographed at Putre, Chile, by a research team from the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. Members of the team were Greg Card, David Elmore, Alice Lecinski, Kim Streander and Dick White. The expedition was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
This photograph of the solar corona was taken with a camera developed by Gordon A. Newkirk, Jr. This specialized instrument photographs the corona in red light -- 6400A -- through a radially graded filter that suppresses the bright inner corona in order to show the much fainter streamers of the outer corona in the same photograph.
Credit image to: High Altitude Observatory and Rhodes College. The High Altitude Observatory is a division of National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, Colorado, USA. NCAR is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
Technical Information for image
The image has been rotated to heliocentric coordinates. North is to the top, East to the left. objective apperature - 11.1 cm focal length - 178 cm focal ratio - F1/15 film - Kodak Technical Pan / 2415 (70mm) development - D-19 (1:1) 5 min filter - Schott OG-3 effective wavelength - 6400A exposure - 30 seconds radial filter range - 10^4 in transmission