Distortion of the Sun near the Horizon

November 16, 2003

Solardistort

Provided by: Wojtek Rychlik, Pikes Peak Photo
Summary authors & editors: Wojtek Rychlik

The above series of Sun images was taken over the course of several hours from near Colorado Springs, Colorado. In yellow, the time a photo was taken is listed, and in white, the height/width ratio is given. A 800 mm lens was used. A radio antenna (bottom composite) was a good guide for aligning the images. These images clearly illustrate the distortion resulting from increased atmospheric refraction when the Sun is near the horizon and proves that the Sun is not of a larger size at sunrise than at mid-day (lower right, 17:43).

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