A Glimpse of CLIMSO

A tantalizing glimpse inside this dome was captured after sunset at the mountain top
Pic Du Midi Observatory in the French Pyrenees. But while most are just beginning
their work at sunset, this observatory's day was done. The instrument looming within
is CLIMSO (for Christian Latouche IMageur Solaire), dedicated to exploring dynamic
phenomena across the surface and atmosphere of the Sun. To image the solar atmosphere
or corona, CLIMSO uses coronographs. Developed by French astronomer Bernard Lyot
in the 1930s, coronographs block light from the center of the telescope beam to create an
artificial solar eclipse and allow a continuous view of the solar corona. In this surreal
twilight scene above a sea of clouds, the dome's interior was revealed by the single, long
exposure as the open slit rotated across the field of view.