Althouse: Thick fog made the 3-dimensionality of the sun photographable this morning... or no, it was just an illusion...

January 5, 2021

Thick fog made the 3-dimensionality of the sun photographable this morning... or no, it was just an illusion...

... wasn't it?

53 comments:

Qwinn said...: Missing tag "Nipples".; 1/5/21, 9:01 AM
wendybar said...: Really pretty!!; 1/5/21, 9:01 AM
DavidUW said...: No 'Rona news on the front page of the WSJ.
No 'Rona news on the front page of SFGate.

'Rona is over, but everything is still shut down.

Why?
You know why, comrade.; 1/5/21, 9:02 AM
narciso said...: Surprise

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/amp/article/coronavirus-lab-escape-theory.html?__twitter_impression=true&s=04; 1/5/21, 9:03 AM
Wince said...: God bending over too far, piercing the clouds, about get her (its/their?) tit caught in the wringer of Madison politics?

Well, that's what it looks like to me.; 1/5/21, 9:08 AM
Howard said...: Everything in the Universe is an illusion. It only exists inside our individual minds.; 1/5/21, 9:09 AM
Paddy O said...: Your first picture looks like a Caspar David Friedrich painting.; 1/5/21, 9:14 AM
Howard said...: The asymmetry of the warm glow around the sun makes it look like it's falling; 1/5/21, 9:21 AM
stevew said...: An illusion resembling and egg yolk in a fry pan.

I'm occasionally surprised at the image my camera captures when looking at it uploaded version on a larger screen. Very different than what I saw when taking it.; 1/5/21, 9:23 AM
wildswan said...: I can't believe the sun is shadowed - the angle of its body partly cutting off light from the sun, creating shadows, and showing its 3-dimensionality. More likely, the focus laser from your camera is bouncing off the sun, creating a highlight.; 1/5/21, 9:35 AM
DanTheMan said...: >>More likely, the focus laser from your camera is bouncing off the sun, creating a highlight.

There is a guy on YouTube proving the earth is flat using a small laser "shining" on the moon.
Shining a laser on the sun would be a tiny bit more difficult. :); 1/5/21, 9:48 AM
narciso said...: https://mobile.twitter.com/Doc_0/status/1346453904054243329; 1/5/21, 9:50 AM
Aric said...: Illusion, probably a sensor anomaly / failure. The sun is the same brightness all over - a sphere will only be brighter on one side if it's being illuminated by something else. Unless there's a bigger, brighter star in our solar system lighting up the Sun, it will never look like this.; 1/5/21, 9:56 AM
Joe Smith said...: I had a very cool pink sky in the back yard yesterday morning, and a huge double rainbow in the front yard to round things out...; 1/5/21, 9:59 AM
wildswan said...: "Dan the Man said:
There is a guy on YouTube proving the earth is flat using a small laser "shining" on the moon.
Shining a laser on the sun would be a tiny bit more difficult. :)"

A critic of my science? Here is verified proof by an authority accepted on this blog, a Nobel Laureate, that these things happen:
"The cowboy angel rides
With his candle lit into the sun"

But, Dan, here's song for you
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBQxG0Z72qM; 1/5/21, 10:20 AM
PM said...: During the Cali fires we had several mornings of a full, watchable, red-disk sun.
Fog is the preferred enabler.; 1/5/21, 10:32 AM
Joe Smith said...: "During the Cali fires we had several mornings of a full, watchable, red-disk sun."

Where is this 'Cali' of which you speak?; 1/5/21, 10:39 AM
PM said...: Not your coke source. That place left of Nev.; 1/5/21, 10:42 AM
stevew said...: Arguing rather than proving, no?; 1/5/21, 10:56 AM
wild chicken said...: Beautiful.

What do you call it when the fog magnifies an image and makes it look closer? Couldn't find if anywhere.

I love fog.; 1/5/21, 10:59 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'm just happy the fog thinned. Hello Sun, and welcome back. The litany of posts praising hoarfrost and rime the past two cloudy days has worn on me.; 1/5/21, 11:12 AM
Joe Smith said...: "Not your coke source. That place left of Nev."

You must be either a surfer dude, a transplant, or a kid.

I've never heard a native Californian over the age of 30 say 'Cali.'

Yes, I'm being a pain in the ass...that word just grates on my ears.; 1/5/21, 11:14 AM
Howard said...: Wild Chick: don't know if this is what you are talking about but it looks pretty cool

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brocken_spectre

A Brocken spectre (German: Brockengespenst), also called Brocken bow or mountain spectre, is the magnified (and apparently enormous) shadow of an observer cast upon clouds opposite the Sun's direction. The figure's head is often surrounded by the halo-like rings of coloured light forming a glory, which appears opposite the Sun's direction when uniformly-sized water droplets in clouds refract and backscatter sunlight.

A Brocken spectre within a glory's rings
The phenomenon can appear on any misty mountainside or cloud bank, even when seen from an aeroplane, but the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken, a peak in the Harz Mountains in Germany, have created a local legend from which the phenomenon draws its name. The Brocken spectre was observed and described by Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has since been recorded often in literature about the region.; 1/5/21, 11:23 AM
PM said...: Noted, yo.; 1/5/21, 11:24 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: Momma always told me not to look into the eyes of the Sun--
But Momma-- that's where the fun is!

Pic #2 looks like a Golden drop of Retsyn® !

What the heck is Retsyn? According to Cadbury Adams (the maker of Certs), Retsyn is “a combination of partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, copper gluconate and flavoring.”; 1/5/21, 11:25 AM
Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...: ...and now you got us thinking about Roe v. Wade; 1/5/21, 11:30 AM
wild chicken said...: Howard, not quite. One day I was looking across a field by our house and a shed appeared to have moved 50 feet forward in the fog and sunlight.

Thought I saw the name of the effect as a kid in my Golden Book of Geology.🙂; 1/5/21, 11:41 AM
Kay said...: I know it’s possible to see planets in the sky without a telescope, but I’ve never been able to make them out myself. Maybe I’m not sure what to look for. I’ve heard that some of them simply look like stars to the naked eye.; 1/5/21, 12:08 PM
Fernandinande said...: That's a cool effect and since the camera is a iPhone XS, I bet the source of the effect is Apple’s "Smart HDR" technology since it's a very HDR image. Scroll down about 1/3 of the page.; 1/5/21, 12:11 PM
Fernandinande said...: Scroll down about 1/3 of the page.

To the street/motel image.; 1/5/21, 12:12 PM
Narr said...: Kay! I don't know where you live--you may be in a brightly lit area which makes things hard to distinguish at night--but go the website

Earthsky.org/tonight

and you will find what to look for, with visuals.

There may be better sites, but this one is at my level.

Mars is very bright and pinkish now throughout the night, and may be the only thing you CAN see clearly.

Narr
Have fun!; 1/5/21, 12:15 PM
Paddy O said...: "I've never heard a native Californian over the age of 30 say 'Cali.'

Yes, I'm being a pain in the ass...that word just grates on my ears."

It doesn't grate on my ears, but it is an almost sure sign that someone is not from here. Though, it's very commonly used outside of California, so I never get the sense anyone thinks there's anything unusual about it for Californians.; 1/5/21, 12:21 PM
Kay said...: Narr said...
Kay! I don't know where you live--you may be in a brightly lit area which makes things hard to distinguish at night--but go the website

Earthsky.org/tonight

and you will find what to look for, with visuals.

There may be better sites, but this one is at my level.

Mars is very bright and pinkish now throughout the night, and may be the only thing you CAN see clearly.

Narr
Have fun!
1/5/21, 12:15 PM

Awesome, thank you for sharing this link!

You’re also probably right that it could be about my location. I can remember camping during a meteor shower about 20 years ago, and that was the clearest I’ve ever seen the night sky.; 1/5/21, 12:44 PM
PM said...: Joe/Paddy:
Born in LA. Live in NorCal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FdizL4on-Rc&list=RDFdizL4on-Rc; 1/5/21, 1:02 PM
Lurker21 said...: Great picture.

Aurora, aureola or areola?

You make the call.; 1/5/21, 1:22 PM
Joe Smith said...: "It doesn't grate on my ears, but it is an almost sure sign that someone is not from here. Though, it's very commonly used outside of California, so I never get the sense anyone thinks there's anything unusual about it for Californians."

It's as bad as 'Frisco' or 'San Fran.'

I swear I'm the only native Californian within 100 square miles.

Now get off my lawn!

: ); 1/5/21, 2:22 PM
BUMBLE BEE said...: "What do you call it when the fog magnifies an image and makes it look closer?"
Primo Shit!; 1/5/21, 2:26 PM
mtrobertslaw said...: Great photo!! By the way, how does one go about purchasing one your photos?; 1/5/21, 2:53 PM
Fernandinande said...: For some reason, the NUMBNUT GIRLIE JESUITS of the EFFING North American SCRABBLE® Players Association expurgated many interesting and informational words from their official COMSYMP dictionaries.; 1/5/21, 3:04 PM
320Busdriver said...: Hey if you thought you missed how an election was stolen back in Nov. you probably have a good chance to see a replay tonight. Stay up late and when you can't stay awake go to bed and when you wake up, voila.; 1/5/21, 3:17 PM
320Busdriver said...: I miss iridium flares. But you can get ultra accurate predictions for any visible
satellite passes in your locale at heavens-above.com. Starlink seems to be the in thing nowadays.; 1/5/21, 3:23 PM
narciso said...: hmm

https://meaninginhistory.blogspot.com/2021/01/dyers-latest-update-on-key-supporting.html; 1/5/21, 3:25 PM
narciso said...: pattern and practice,

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/american-elite-tom-friedman; 1/5/21, 3:26 PM
Paddy O said...: "Born in LA. Live in NorCal."

Ha! Funny you should say that. I erased the part of my comment that said natives tend to say SoCal or NorCal not Cali. Being around a lot of non-natives though is probably catchy.

I lived in Sacramento for five years and got used to saying I5, not the right way of saying it "the 5". Now I have to learn how to speak properly again after moving back south.; 1/5/21, 7:20 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: Born in California (SoCal, to be more specific) and lived there for 35 years. Never heard anyone call it "Cali". Moved to ID, then to AZ and finally back to ID. No "Cali" here in Idaho, but lots of it in Phoenix.

A few data points.; 1/5/21, 8:18 PM
PM said...: "Now I have to learn how to speak properly again after moving back south."
If you mean LA, some old school:
The 405 is the San Diego Fwy
The 101 is the Hollywood Fwy
The 5 is the Golden State Fwy
The 710 is the Long Beach Fwy
The 110 is the Harbor Fwy / north of downtown - it's the Pasadena Fwy
The 10 is the Santa Monica Fwy / east of downtown - the San Bernadino Fwy
which takes you to San Berdoo and Riverside or as Jim Rome calls it: Rivertucky.; 1/5/21, 8:35 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: "The 5 is the Golden State Fwy"

Not if you're in Orange County. And not "The OC".; 1/5/21, 8:37 PM
PM said...: Of course, then it's the Santa Ana - on its way to Disneyland.; 1/5/21, 9:14 PM
Joe Smith said...: Don't get me started on the 'The' before the freeway name. That is definitely an LA thing because nobody ever says that up north.

And I never say the proper names (Bayshore, Junipero Serra, and Nimitz are the three main ones) because transplants and younger natives have no idea.

There are a LOT more freeways in LA to remember.

Also, the street names in LA are pretty fantastic.; 1/5/21, 10:08 PM
I'm Not Sure said...: This may be getting a bit off into the weeds, but the 91 is either the Riverside Fwy if you're going to/coming back from Big Bear or the Artesia Fwy if you're going to/coming back from the Queen Mary in Long Beach.

TMI, I'm sure.; 1/5/21, 10:24 PM
Joe Smith said...: And then there's the Slauson Cutoff...

https://youtu.be/twqa9AppfeE

Sound is bad but you get the idea.; 1/5/21, 10:35 PM
Howard said...: Born and raised in LA lived in Santa Cruz 30-years now a big masshole. Nobody knows how to drive in the bay area except for the 17 regulars. WTF is up with the northeast driving habit of stopping on motherloving onramps? I do miss Mulholland top of the world.

Say goodnight, Dick; 1/5/21, 10:57 PM
PM said...: Kay: "I know it’s possible to see planets in the sky without a telescope, but I’ve never been able to make them out myself."

If it twinkles, it's a star. If it doesn't, it's a planet.; 1/6/21, 10:31 AM