Tag Archives: eclipse 2017

WHY YOUR PHOTO OF THE ECLIPSE MAY HAVE A MINI CRESCENT-SHAPE

The simple answer is that it is a moon-shaped lens flare! The flares in your image are crescent, or ellipse, shaped because the source of light was shaped like that. Had it been an ordinary day when the sun was not obstructed by the moon, the lens flares would have been circular. A lens flare is the phenomenon where light is scattered, or flared, in a camera’s lens system, often in response to a bright light.

The crescents in my Fujifilm camera photos are pale violet; the crescents in my iPhone photos are aqua blue-green.

https://instagram.com/p/BYEfrG6Fh1qCO6KiqNhp-7lAS3bb0i-22x4WBw0/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BYJMwejlnp0/

MAGICAL CRESCENTS, HALOS, AND RAINBOW COLORS SURROUNDING THE #ECLIPSE

Hello Astronomy Friends and Paul T. Morrrison, All my photos from after the peak of the eclipse (around 3:05) have beautiful violet or green crescents, and swirly aurora borealis-like colors in the clouds around the sun. Even a bird that flew through the scene has a rainbow light shining through its wings. I wonder why is this? Thank you if you can help.

The bird is blurry, but you can see the rainbow effect.