Our sun has been pretty active this year. Thanks to solar storms, it even pushed the Northern lights further toward the south. Astrophotographer Miguel Claro (previously) has gifted us with a visual delight, a mesmerizing solar timelapse showing the Sun’s surface “eruptive prominences and minor flares in motion.” Captured on July 9, 2023, in just over three hours, Miguel depicted the sun’s full disc and its dynamic surface.
To bring us this piece of art, Miguel visited DarkSky Alqueva in Portugal – the first starlight tourism destination in the world. Using a Player One Saturn-M SQR camera paired with a Lunt telescope LS100, he spent around three and a half hours shooting. That doesn’t sound like much, but he ended up with a whopping 3TB of data. All of this needed to be processed, and his final work is a 5K film, incorporating 213 images that he shot.
Of course, other than the professional stargazing and photography gear, Miguel made sure to properly protect his eyes. He urges you to never look and point a telescope or camera directly to the sun without proper and specialized safety filters. “It can blind you forever.” So, if you want to attempt something like this yourself, be safe. And if you just want to enjoy the view of the sun from the comfort of your room – make sure to watch Miguel’s beautiful video and follow him on Instagram for more of his work.
[via Space.com]
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