To Take an Eclipse Photo Like This at Home, You Have to Build Your Own Observatory

Years ago, Jon and Susan Brewster built a house, complete with a home observatory, on a hilltop in Oregon. They chose the site for its dark skies and view of the horizon—and because it was right in the path of totality for the August 21, 2017 eclipse.

On Monday, Jon set his computer-controlled telescope and cameras to document the eclipse while they hosted a party outside. Everything worked just as he planned, and shots like this one are the result. Taken during totality, the image clearly shows the Sun’s corona—the outer layer of the star—and several massive solar prominences arcing through it. The gauntlet has been thrown down on home eclipse photographs with this beauty. You have seven years (before the next total eclipse rolls through the United States) to come up with a plan to beat this one. Good luck.