The image you are looking at is something between an exposure and an attempt
to burn the film. As the expedition's equipment did not include fire
extinguishers it is the last picture in the series. OK, let's get serious.
Each member of the expedition had been warned of the great danger of damaging
one's eye-sight when looking into the telescope or a camera pointed to the
not totaly eclipsed Sun. As soon as the first bright rays of sunlight appeared we
immediately stopped looking into the camera viewfinders. Nevertheless, everyone
of us photographers made a few blind shots. Of course, it was clear to us that
those pictures would be of no scientific value but they can be impressive. A
picture that stands out was made by my lucky daughter Hana who was involved in
shooting the outer corona with the fast Sonnar 2.8/200mm lens. It
overwhelms you with the massive intensity of the light highlighted by the
textbook example of a diffraction ring. In spite of the brightness of the first
rays from the solar photosphere you can still see the inner corona fairly well.
In the
darker version of the picture you will notice the
outstanding red glow of the chromosphere.
The more distant parts of the corona cannot be "extracted" from the picture
even using sophisticated mathematical methods as their contrast is too low due
to the scattered light. They can, however, be reconstructed from earlier
pictures. This gives rise to a
unique image of
the end of the total eclipse.
