Interesting image; what's making the shadow?
Posted: Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:14 am
APOD received the following image and information with a request for an explanation; I got permission to post this here for your input.
I think a cloud is casting the shadow, but the cloud is not visible, either, because it's hidden behind the hill; the shadow is projected up onto the atmosphere/cloud bank.
What do you think? Is that a reasonable explanation, or is something else going on?
[attachment=0]Mt Vernon_0075.jpg[/attachment]
In our email exchange, he said the sun was not yet visible but would rise later to the right.Gary Reiber wrote:I have attached a photo I took from the front porch at a winter sunrise. This hill is not that high so I cannot see that is really causing the shadow. The Cascade Mountain Range is to the south which are large enough to cast a shadow. However I cannot understand why it came from the peak of this small hill. (I don't know the height but it is an easy hour walk from the base to the summit.) I haven't seen it again.
I think a cloud is casting the shadow, but the cloud is not visible, either, because it's hidden behind the hill; the shadow is projected up onto the atmosphere/cloud bank.
What do you think? Is that a reasonable explanation, or is something else going on?