Helio de Carvalho Vital sent these photos to us over the weekend, and wrote:
That the strong refraction next to the horizon flattens the image of the setting sun is no surprise to anyone. But what if the sun suddenly becomes shaped like a mushroom? Saturday evening [January 17, 2015], I took some photos of the sun setting over the Atlantic Ocean from Saquarema, a small city 100 km east of downtown Rio de Janeiro.
The local air temperature was 34°C but the seawater was only 21°C. Thus a layer of cooler air formed on the surface of the sea.
As sunlight crossed that layer to reach my camera, it underwent a complex series of refractions and reflections that severely distorted the image of the sun, making it acquire very unusual shapes.
A Canon Powershot SX60 HS was used for all the shots, taken at 21:39-41 UTC.
After sunset that same evening, Venus and Mercury appeared!
Bottom line: Series of images of Saturday night’s amazing sunset, seen over the Atlantic from a small town near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.
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