APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

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APOD Robot
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APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Sep 21, 2020 4:05 am

Image Omega Sunrise

Explanation: Capturing this sunrise required both luck and timing. First and foremost, precise timing was needed to capture a sailboat crossing right in front of a rising Sun. Additionally, by a lucky coincidence, the background Sun itself appears unusual -- it looks like the Greek letter Omega (Ω). In reality, the Sun remained its circular self -- the Omega illusion was created by sunlight refracting through warm air just above the water. Optically, the feet of the capital Omega are actually an inverted image of the Sun region just above it. Although somewhat rare, optical effects caused by the Earth's atmosphere can make distant objects near the horizon -- including the Sun and Moon -- look quite unusual. This single exposure image was taken over the Mediterranean Sea just over two weeks ago near Valencia, Spain.

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heehaw

Re: APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by heehaw » Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:03 am

Pretty!

Sa Ji Tario

Re: APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by Sa Ji Tario » Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:39 pm

At the time of the image, the Mediterranean was in summer and sailing lovers were at its peak, it is very common that when the prevailing wind dawns is the Levante (east), at noon the Mistral or the Gregal usually arise and at sunset the Poniente which according to the region is called Favonius (favorable) or Céfiro (dark)

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orin stepanek
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Re: APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:54 pm

OmegaSunSail_Sendra_960.jpg
really nice! 8-)
Orin

Smile today; tomorrow's another day!

Alex_515

Re: APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by Alex_515 » Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:56 pm

I'm wondering what kind of optical effects exist in other solar systems with planets having very different physical conditions in terms of atmospheric composition, temperature, pressure etc. and very different suns also...

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Re: APOD: Omega Sunrise (2020 Sep 21)

Post by De58te » Mon Sep 21, 2020 6:08 pm

Alex_515 wrote: Mon Sep 21, 2020 12:56 pm I'm wondering what kind of optical effects exist in other solar systems with planets having very different physical conditions in terms of atmospheric composition, temperature, pressure etc. and very different suns also...
That interesting question is of course food for many a science fiction story or novel. Say for example a red dwarf star. It would be red at noon, so would it still be red at sunset? Or would it set with the colour purple. Although blue giant stars give off too much radiation for life to evolve on a planet even with a planetary magnetic field. But would the blue star turn green at sunset? How about binary systems? What would the sunset look like when there are two or more stars in the sky. Isaac Asimov wrote an excellent story on that called Nightfall. The three stars in the planet sky would only come about to set at the same time every 150 years, so the entire civilization would only experience night time darkness one time in their lives. Would it lead to madness? Then again most exoplanets are hot Jupiters being closer to the star than Mercury. Tidal effects would mean those planets always presented the same face to the Star, similar to the Moon and Earth. For people on that planet the sunset like in the Apod would last forever and never change. On other parts of the planet would forever be noon and other parts forever at night.

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