Looking into the Shadow: Recording a Total Solar Eclipse with High-resolution Event Cameras

Fernando Cladera, Kenneth Chaney, Caroline Pritchard, M. Ani Hsieh, Vijay Kumar, Camillo J. Taylor, Kostas Daniilidis; Proceedings of the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) Workshops, 2025, pp. 4979-4983

Abstract

Event cameras are usually favored in high-dynamic scenes because of their high dynamic range compared to traditional CMOS-based cameras. Total solar eclipses are one of these high dynamic scenes. This paper presents the first recording of a total solar eclipse with a pair of high-resolution event cameras, with accompanying methodology. We propose a method to stabilize the recordings to counteract manual tripod adjustments required to track celestial bodies in-frame. We also generate a high-dynamic range image of the sun during the eclipse, showing how event cameras excel in this aspect compared to traditional CMOS-based cameras. We also share insights and lessons learned in this unique scenario. All raw data, stabilized data, and code are open-source.

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[bibtex]
@InProceedings{Cladera_2025_CVPR, author = {Cladera, Fernando and Chaney, Kenneth and Pritchard, Caroline and Hsieh, M. Ani and Kumar, Vijay and Taylor, Camillo J. and Daniilidis, Kostas}, title = {Looking into the Shadow: Recording a Total Solar Eclipse with High-resolution Event Cameras}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Conference (CVPR) Workshops}, month = {June}, year = {2025}, pages = {4979-4983} }