                        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.

                                 2021 June 6

                         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
   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 later this week on June 10.

                        Tomorrow's picture: star boom
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

