Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2023 October 9

A partially eclipse of a Sun rising over water is shown. 
A ship appears on the right. The Sun appears reddened by the
Intervening Earth’s atmosphere. An inversion layer in the
atmosphere makes part of the Sun appeared doubled near the 
horizon. 
Please see the explanation for more detailed information.

A Distorted Sunrise Eclipse
Image Credit & Copyright: Elias Chasiotis

Explanation: Yes, but have you ever seen a sunrise like this? Here, after initial cloudiness, the Sun appeared to rise in two pieces and during a partial eclipse in 2019, causing the photographer to describe it as the most stunning sunrise of his life. The dark circle near the top of the atmospherically-reddened Sun is the Moon -- but so is the dark peak just below it. This is because along the way, the Earth's atmosphere had a layer of unusually warm air over the sea which acted like a gigantic lens and created a second image. For a normal sunrise or sunset, this rare phenomenon of atmospheric optics is known as the Etruscan vase effect. The featured picture was captured in December 2019 from Al Wakrah, Qatar. Some observers in a narrow band of Earth to the east were able to see a full annular solar eclipse -- where the Moon appears completely surrounded by the background Sun in a ring of fire. The next solar eclipse, also an annular eclipse for well-placed observers, will occur this coming Saturday.

APOD editor to speak: in Houghton, Michigan on Thursday, October 12 at 6 pm
Tomorrow's picture: hidden in Orion


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