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Two talented astrophotographers came together to take a spectacular image of last year's annular eclipse. Andrew McCarthy and Dan Stein worked for months to perfect the image and released it with just one month left until the upcoming total solar eclipse. Titled Ring of the Gods, the 1.69-gigapixel panorama, which can also be viewed in close detail, is a composite of thousands of individual images.
To take the photo, McCarthy and Stein positioned themselves in the Utah desert with a plethora of equipment to ensure that they were able to capture the eclipse hovering over a butte.
“What’s unique about it is it was captured using a combination of white unfiltered light and a hydrogen-alpha telescope,” McCarthy told PetaPixel. “So it’s detailed enough to actually see atmospheric details on the Sun. You can see prominences and spicula in the solar chromosphere when you zoom in.”
While the photoshoot itself was rather straightforward, what happened before and after is a different story. Extensive research went into organizing the location of the shoot so that the annular eclipse would line up perfectly next to the butte. Then, the large amount of data captured made editing quite a challenge, as McCarthy's computer continuously crashed. But after five months of work, the men were able to bring their vision to life.
McCarthy's high-resolution image of the Sun blends perfectly with Stein's landscape for a seamless panorama.
“Dan’s incredible landscape photography expertise next to my experience photographing the Sun in h-alpha gave us the skill set needed to make something unique, unlike any landscape photo I’ve ever seen,” McCarthy shared.
Now, both men are gearing up for April 8, when they'll both surely be out in the field to photograph the total solar eclipse as it passes over North America.
Andrew McCarthy and Dan Stein came together to photograph 2023's annular solar eclipse in the Utah desert.
The 1.69-gigapixel panorama took five months to edit together and is made from thousands of images.
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Enjoy this behind-the-scenes look at this stunning piece of astrophotography.
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