This is by far the most interesting shot I took this year. I know that technically is (very) far from perfect, but for the 3'42" of the totality phase, the last thing I thought about was the camera settings! I had my Olympus P&S camera mounted on a tripod, and I just pressed the button without even looking in the LCD.
The total solar eclipses is one of the most spectacular natural phenomena you will ever experience. The "first contact" is the beginning of the eclipse, when the moon starts to cover the disk of the sun. The "second contact" begins when the sun is completely hidden behind the moon and marks the beginning of the "totality" phase, which lasted for 3'42" at the location where I was. The "third contact", shown on this photograph, marks the end of the totality. The sun "rises" from the surface of the moon, the phenomenon is also known as "diamond ring". The small dot on the right side of the sun, above the "burned" area is a "solar prominence" (an explosion on the surface of the sun)
This phenomenon in our solar system is possible only on planet earth, because on all the other planets the moon(s) are either too close to the planets (so they cover the sun completely) or too far (so they cannot cover enough area of the sun's disk).
The Earth's distance from the Sun is about 400 times the Moon's distance from the Earth. The Sun's diameter is about 400 times the diameter of the Moon. Because these ratios are approximately the same, the sizes of the Sun and the Moon as seen from Earth appear to be approximately the same: about 0.5 degree of arc in angular measure. So during totality while the sun's disk (photosphere) is covered, the sun's atmosphere (corona) is visible.
The next total solar eclipse that is visible from a location (relatively) easy to visit will be on July 22 2009 and is visible from Shanghai, China. The totality phase will be one of the longest (maximum duration 6 minutes and 39 seconds, with the maximum eclipse occurring at 02:35:21 UTC about 100 km south of the Bonin Islands, southeast of Japan).
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I wish I could have taken this picture for myself, but its pointless to put it as best of 2006 when there are so many fantastic eclipse pictures out there.
Solar eclipses are hard to capture, but you've pulled it off pretty well. I remember when I was lucky enough to witness one in Budapest a good while ago.
I know photographing a solar eclipse is probably very hard, I wish this were much sharper. Also, the completely centered composition doesn't do it any justice.
Hmmm - the event of a solar eclipse is spectacular. Perhaps this photo is not. The title is asking me to remember a solar eclipse and the eerie darkness but the image does not portray it for me. Without the title this is just a glowing eyeball. I can assume it was difficult to take, but level of difficulty still doesn't translate into gorgeous, or even informative, photo.
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