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.

                              2019 December 28

                         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 partial eclipse, 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 an inversion layer of unusually warm air 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
   Etrucan vase effect. The featured picture was captured two mornings ago
   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, will occur in 2020
   June.

     Notable Images Submitted to APOD: The Partial Solar Eclipse of 2019
                                  December
              Tomorrow's picture: Why Saturn's rings disappear
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

--- hpt/lnx 1.9.0