China Exclusive: China aims to record 40-minute image of solar eclipse corona

NANJING, July 21(Xinhua)-- Chinese scientists are striving to capture a 40-minute sequence of images of the corona of a solar eclipse along its path across China on Wednesday in a bid to understand the sun's outer atmosphere.

Graphics shows the solar eclipse lasting for over six minutes on  July 22, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences Purple  Mountain Observatory.(Xinhua/Meng Lijing)

"We have set up 17 observer stations along the central line of the solar eclipse in China to capture the corona images," said Ji Haisheng, an astronomer with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Tuesday.

"If weather permits, we are very likely to get the first-hand materials for the solar corona research.

"The corona is the sun's outermost atmosphere, which is relatively dim, and can only be observed through a coronagraph on a normal day," said Ji, a research fellow with the CAS Purple Mountain Observatory based in Nanjing, eastern Jiangsu Province.

A coronograph is an instrument that is designed to block light from the main solar surface in order to observe the corona.

"However, it can be easily seen during a total solar eclipse, as the brighter parts of the solar atmosphere are shadowed."