Photo by Miloslav Druckmüller

Could the image above really be the most dramatic image ever taken of a solar eclipse?

Taken by astrophotographer Miloslav Druckmüller, the photograph is deemed by many to be the finest example of solar eclipse photography ever produced. The image was captured in August 2008 as an eclipse loomed over Bor Udzuur in Mongolia, and Druckmuller had mere seconds to snap the image before losing the opportunity.

“Solar eclipse photography if one of the most difficult tasks of astronomical photography,” says the scientist/photographer. This is due to a number of reasons, including the fact that an eclipse’s extreme contrast makes it almost impossible to capture in a single image, but also because there is very little time to work with. If anything goes wrong, says Druckmüller, “it may take years to get an opportunity for a new experiment.”

Scientists have been working on developing new and more effective ways of capturing images of the sun’s corona (the plasma “atmosphere” visible to the naked eye during an eclipse), and Miloslav Druckmüller has the incredible job of hunting down solar eclipses and photographing them using some of the coolest photographic technology around.

To see more high-quality, high-resolution images of eclipses from around the world, visit Druckmüller’s website.