The Standardisation and Sequencing of Solar Eclipse Images for the Eclipse Megamovie Project

TL;DR

This paper introduces SEISS, a tool for standardizing and sequencing solar eclipse images from multiple sources to create eclipse movies, enhancing public engagement and scientific analysis.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel tool, SEISS, that standardizes and sequences eclipse images for the Eclipse Megamovie Project, enabling the creation of eclipse movies from diverse public contributions.

Findings

Successfully processed images from the 2012 eclipse in Queensland.

Created a prototype eclipse movie from public images.

Demonstrated the effectiveness of SEISS in organizing eclipse data.

Abstract

We present a new tool, the Solar Eclipse Image Standardisation and Sequencing (SEISS), developed to process multi-source total solar eclipse images by adjusting them to the same standard of size, resolution, and orientation. Furthermore, by analysing the eclipse images we can determine the relative time between the observations and order them to create a movie of the observed total solar eclipse sequence. We successfully processed images taken at the 14 November 2012 total solar eclipse that occurred in Queensland, Australia, and created a short eclipse proto-movie. The SEISS tool was developed for the Eclipse Megamovie Project (EMP: https://www.eclipsemegamovie.org), with the goal of processing thousands of images taken by the public during solar eclipse events. EMP is a collaboration among multiple institutes aiming to engage and advance the public interest in solar eclipses and the science of the Sun-Earth connection.