                        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
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

