Compare Solar Eclipse Photos

We can see the Sun's corona (outer atmosphere) during a solar eclipse, as shown in the photos above. The corona often looks very different from one eclipse to another. Much of that difference is because the Sun is more or less magnetically active and "stormy" at different times, depending on which phase of the 11-year sunspot cycle it is in. See a comparison of the corona at solar max (the peak of sunspot activity) and solar min (the low point of the sunspot cycle).

Some of the difference in these eclipse photos is due to the quality of the images themselves. Sometimes the stability of the atmosphere is better for viewing an eclipse. Some of these photos were taken with better cameras and larger telescopes. Also, some of these images are composites of several photos of the same eclipse, yielding more detailed views of the corona.

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