This 2021 eclipse time lapse made of 50,000 photos

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On the morning of June 10, a “ring of fire” solar eclipse greeted skywatchers in the northeastern United States, northern Canada, Europe, northern Asia, Russia, and Greenland. While most photographers photographer individual photo taken solar eclipse, Goran Beach decided to show the entire rare solar eclipse from his backyard in stersund, Sweden.

With 50,000 still images corresponding to more than 250 gigabytes of data, the Strand was able to show a two and a half hour solar eclipse in just 10 seconds. While most people only look at photos from above the “Ring of Fire,” the Strand’s resulting time lapse is a very subtle representation of the movement of the moon in front of the sun.

This type of annular event occurs when the moon approaches its farthest point from Earth during a solar eclipse, making the moon appear smaller than the sun in the sky, which does not block the entire solar disk.

To add to the remarkable feat of capturing the movement of the eclipsed sun itself, the Strand also captured all the edges of the sun. The solar ledge is a large, bright feature that extends outward from the sun’s surface. Beach also features close-ups of top celebrities with scaled earth charts next to them. With this incredible graphic, it’s easy to see how roughly a million earths fit inside this massive star.

With so many pictures taken, Strand tells his story PetaPixel about how he edited the solar eclipse timelapse.

“To record a time lapse, I took a series of 200 images every 30 seconds for 2.5 hours,” he explains. “From each 200-frame clip, I stack, align, and calibrate the best 50 frames. In the end, I received a total of 250 calibrated still images, which I then used for further processing. First, I aligned all 250 images, sharpened the details, then extracted the data showing all the highlights. Then I have my finished drawing for a time lapse.”

With solar eclipses and other significant astronomical events occurring infrequently, non-ideal weather is always a challenge for photographers looking to capture the action.

“I have been involved in astrophotography for over 25 years and have learned to accept the bad weather and frustration that such an event usually brings,” said the cloud stand predicted at noon. When it was only 10-15 minutes before the eclipse, some clouds appeared but they were moving away from the sun so I’m so glad I had a perfect eclipse this time.

“It’s great to watch an eclipse like that. Even though I’ve seen three total solar eclipses, I always get goosebumps at events like that when you realize you actually caught them.”

With more than a quarter of a century of experience, Strand is an accomplished astrophotographer. For those who wish to follow in his footsteps, he gives his advice to newcomers.

“If you want to start sky photography, I recommend taking it slow. Don’t rush to buy expensive big telescopes and hunt for planets. Planetary photography is very difficult and takes several years to master. Start with your telephoto lens and take photos of the moon, which you then stack to get more detail,” he said.

“This is a technique called Lucky Imaging and is a great way to get sharp images of the planet, as well as the sun and moon, even in very turbulent air. When you have your image, it’s time to edit it. AutoStakkert! is my favorite software for stacking images of celestial bodies. Above all, have fun and take a moment to see how small we are in a big room.”

Credit: Photo of Goran Beach and used with permission.

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