APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)

[APOD Robot]

Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico

Explanation: What is this person doing? In 2012 an annular eclipse of the Sun was visible over a narrow path that crossed the northern Pacific Ocean and several western US states. In an annular solar eclipse, the Moon is too far from the Earth to block out the entire Sun, leaving the Sun peeking out over the Moon's disk in a ring of fire. To capture this unusual solar event, an industrious photographer drove from Arizona to New Mexico to find just the right vista. After setting up and just as the eclipsed Sun was setting over a ridge about 0.5 kilometers away, a person unknowingly walked right into the shot. Although grateful for the unexpected human element, the photographer never learned the identity of the silhouetted interloper. It appears likely, though, that the person is holding a circular device that would enable them to get their own view of the eclipse. The shot was taken at sunset on 2012 May 20 at 7:36 pm local time from a park near Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Tomorrow another annular solar eclipse will become visible, this time along a path crossing Africa and Madagascar.

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[madtom1999]

I normally get all OCD about astonomical pictures with 'oomans in them but that is a cracker of a shot.

[neufer]

[b][color=#0000FF]Logo#1 The Boy on the Moon[/color][/b]

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<<The first [DreamWorks] logo came about through the imagination of Steven Spielberg. He wanted a logo that reminded others of Hollywood’s golden age. To that end he suggested the concept of a man fishing while atop the moon. He at first wanted it to be a computer generated image but, in the end, an artist named Robert Hunt was asked to hand-draw the image. It was Hunt that suggested that the man become a boy and Spielberg agreed. As an added bonus, the boy on the moon was modeled after Hunt’s son. As a nod to the three people who had come together to make DreamWorks, the initials SKG were added to the bottom of the logo. This stood for Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, the three original founders.>>

[Case]

Nice one, neufer. Interesting tangential tidbit about Dreamworks.

[Quae]

The diameter of the Sun in the picture is about 3 times the height of the person. Given that the distance to the Sun is just over 100 times its diameter, this means that the distance between the person and the camera is about 300 times the person's height. Assuming the person's height is 1.7 m = 5.5 ft, the distance from the camera must be about 1.7×300 = 510 m = 0.51 km, far less than the 2.5 km mentioned. If the person were really 2.5 km from the camera, then he or she would have to be about 8.3 m = 27 ft tall.

[Boomer12k]

AND....It got him on APOD....

Terrific shot. and happenstance...
Marvelous things do happen by unplanned accident.

:---[===] *

[Chris Peterson]

The diameter of the Sun in the picture is about 3 times the height of the person. Given that the distance to the Sun is just over 100 times its diameter, this means that the distance between the person and the camera is about 300 times the person's height. Assuming the person's height is 1.7 m = 5.5 ft, the distance from the camera must be about 1.7×300 = 510 m = 0.51 km, far less than the 2.5 km mentioned. If the person were really 2.5 km from the camera, then he or she would have to be about 8.3 m = 27 ft tall.

I did it numerically, looking at the pixel scale derived from the angular size of the Moon on that day. Assuming the 1.7 meter height, I got 529 meters distance. So yes, I'd say a half-kilometer is much closer to the true distance than 2.5 km.

[Chris Peterson]

I drove down to New Mexico to photograph that eclipse along its centerline. From there, the Sun was still partially eclipsed as it set.

As a consequence, I also got a serendipitous image (of a phenomenon I've never seen described before) of the Green Flash- not off the top of the Sun as we normally see, but off the eclipsed limb, which was much nearer the horizon.

[Fred the Cat]

Holy guacamole! Nice images Chris. Is there a name for the light silhouette that appears on the fringes of the person's hair or in the fine branches of the plants in today's APOD? I always like that when I happen to take a photo in which it appears.

This was worth the drive in itself. Thanks for posting them.

(Though I do hate it when the pit takes up most of the avocado!)

[Chris Peterson]

Is there a name for the light silhouette that appears on the fringes of the person's hair or in the fine branches of the plants in today's APOD?

Optically, I'd call it forward scatter (some might also be specular reflection due to near grazing incidence surfaces). There might be other terms that classical photographers use.

[Fred the Cat]

Is there a name for the light silhouette that appears on the fringes of the person's hair or in the fine branches of the plants in today's APOD?

Optically, I'd call it forward scatter (some might also be specular reflection due to near grazing incidence surfaces). There might be other terms that classical photographers use.

It sure makes for great outlines. Thanks!

As far as avocados go - so the Dodo. Almost.

[RJN]

... the distance from the camera must be about 1.7×300 = 510 m = 0.51 km ...

Yes, I believe 0.5 km is a more accurate estimate. Thank you (and Chris). I have now corrected the text on the main NASA APOD page, and apologize for the oversight.

- RJN

[Astronymus]

There is a smudge left of the person. The picture is less grainy at that spot. Did Photoshop help in the making of this picture? Was some poor guy deleted?