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Credit & Copyright: Lorenzo Busilacchi
Explanation:
This seaside
sunset offered
a surreal experience, captured
in a sea and skyscape from the west coast of
Sardinia, Italy, planet Earth.
The Daliesque scene
is a composition
of sequential exposures made with a camera and long telephoto lens.
The Sun is
not
melting, though.
Its shifting and fluid appearance as it nears the
horizon is caused as refraction along the line of sight
changes and creates distorted images or
mirages of the
reddened solar disk.
The changes in atmospheric refraction correspond to
atmospheric layers
with sharply different temperatures and
densities.
Another famous but fleeting effect of atmospheric refraction produced
by a long sight-line to the setting (or rising) Sun is
often called the green flash.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: sunset - refraction
Publications with words: sunset - refraction
See also:
- APOD: 2025 December 30 Á An Artificial Comet
- APOD: 2025 December 22 Á Sunset Solstice over Stonehenge
- APOD: 2025 October 15 Á Rocket Launch Plume over Tucson
- APOD: 2025 June 15 Á Two Worlds One Sun
- APOD: 2020 August 2 Á Two Worlds One Sun
- Noctilucent Clouds, Reflections, and Silhouettes
- Shadowrise and Sunset

