Sunrise Sequence

December 16, 2004

Sa040331 copy

Provided and copyright: Andre Mueller
Summary authors & editors: Andre Mueller; Jim Foster

The photo montage above shows the sunrise on March 31, 2004, from Aachen, Germany. The ten photos were shot on slide film using a 90 mm ETX lens, then scanned and combined into a single image. On the three photos at right, an antenna, nearly 15 km away, slices the solar disk. On the second photo from the right, a commercial jet (just above the antenna) can be discerned -- more than 200 km distant! Click on image for better view.

Note that the Sun appears not only more reddened but distorted as well when it's hugging the horizon. This is due to refraction of sunlight. Essentially, the lower limb of the Sun is further from the zenith (highest point in the sky) than is the upper limb, and refraction thus lifts it a bit more. In addition, it's likely that a temperature inversion is contributing to the refraction, producing the unusual shapes in the left-most photos. See also the linked photos below.

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