Page 1 of 1
APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 4:10 am
by 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.
[/b]
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 7:18 am
by madtom1999
I normally get all OCD about astonomical pictures with 'oomans in them but that is a cracker of a shot.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 12:31 pm
by neufer
https://www.logaster.com/blog/dreamworks-logo/ wrote:
<<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.>>
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 1:18 pm
by Case
Nice one, neufer. Interesting tangential tidbit about Dreamworks.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:26 pm
by 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.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:27 pm
by Boomer12k
AND....It got him on APOD....
Terrific shot. and happenstance...
Marvelous things do happen by unplanned accident.
:---[===] *
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:01 pm
by Chris Peterson
Quae wrote: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.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:07 pm
by 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.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:36 pm
by 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!)
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 4:14 pm
by Chris Peterson
Fred the Cat wrote: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.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:07 pm
by Fred the Cat
Chris Peterson wrote:Fred the Cat wrote: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.
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 5:56 pm
by RJN
Quae wrote:... 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
Re: APOD: Annular Solar Eclipse over New Mexico (2016 Aug 31)
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2016 9:47 pm
by 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?
