Solar System - Sun
The setting Sun descending into a fog bank on a rural highway looking due west, on the evening of the vernal equinox, March 20, 2023. So the Sun is setting due west. The fog dims and reddens the Sun, illustrating atmospheric absorption. This was on Highway 561 in southern Alberta. This is a single exposure with the RF100-400mm lens at 165mm on the Canon R5. Autofocused on the Sun.
The setting Sun descending into a fog bank looking due west, on the evening of the vernal equinox, March 20, 2023. The fog dims and reddens the Sun, illustrating atmospheric absorption, and refraction as the solar disk is quite flattened. A couple of sunspots are just visible. The colour gradient is natural and comes from the blend of fog below and clearer twilight sky above. This is a single exposure with the RF100-400mm lens at 400mm on the Canon R5. Autofocused on the Sun.
The Setting Sun at Equinox (Sept 22, 2021)
Sunset at the September equinox, in this case on September 22, 2021, which was the evening of the day of equinox this year, which occurred on the afternoon of Sept. 22. Thus the Sun is settting very close to due west, marked by the direction of the prairie highway. After the date of the September equinox the Sun sets farther to the south of west, until the December solstice. I shot hiis to illustrate the equinox alignment. This is a 7-exposure blend, from a short 1/3200-second image for essentially just the Sun's disk, to 1/50th second for the sky and foreground. All were with the 24-105mm RF lens at f/11 and 105mm, and the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 100. The images were blended not with HDR but with luminosity masks created with the ADP Pro (aka Lumiflow) extension panel for Photoshop, which does an auto-blend for up to 7 images. I added a mild Orton glow effect with Luminar AI. Dodge and burn touchups added with TKActions v8. I shot this same scene from the same location the evening before, thinking this night would be too cloudy. But clouds cleared off just in time to shoot the sunset.
Sunset near the September equinox, in this case on September 21, 2021, which was the evening before the day of equinox this year, which occurred in the afternoon of Sept. 22. Thus the Sun is settting just a bit north of due west, marked by the direction of the prairie highway. The evening of September 22 proved too cloudy for taking this type of image. Nevertheless, this image serves to illustrate the due west setting point of an equinoctial Sun. After the date of the September equinox the Sun sets farther to the south of west, until the December solstice. This is a 7-exposure blend, from a short 1/8000 second image for essentially just the Sun's disk, to 1/250th second for the sky and foreground. All were with the 24-105mm RF lens at f/8 and 105mm, and the Canon EOS Ra at ISO 100. The images were blended not with HDR but with luminosity masks created with the ADP Pro (aka Lumiflow) extension panel for Photoshop, which does an auto-blend for up to 7 images. I added a mild Orton glow effect with Luminar AI. About 40 minutes after this image, I shot a matching image of the rising Moon from a location a few hundred metres away down the same highway.
Comparing the Size of the Sun at Aphelion and Perihelion
A comparison of the Sun with Earth at perihelion (closest to the Sun) on January 5, 2020 vs. the Sun with Earth near aphelion (farthest from the Sun) on July 8, 2021, showing the slight difference in size of the Sun's disk due to Earth's changing distance from the Sun through the year. Earth was 152,100,527 kilometres from the Sun on the actual day of aphelion, July 5 (which was cloudy!), and 147,091,144 km from the Sun on January 5, 2020. On January 5, 2020 the Earth was at its closest perihelion of the 21st century (though by only a tiny margin), making for the largest solar disk we will see. So that made this a “supersun!” The disk was virtually spotless both days. I shot both with the same equipment — the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor, with AP 2X Barlow for f/12 and with the Canon 60Da at ISO 100. The filter was the glass Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass filter which imparts a yellow tone to the image.
Comparing the Size of the Sun at Aphelion and Perihelion (Split Sun View)
A comparison of the Sun with Earth at perihelion (closest to the Sun) on January 5, 2020 vs. the Sun with Earth near aphelion (farthest from the Sun) on July 8, 2021, showing the slight difference in size of the Sun's disk due to Earth's changing distance from the Sun through the year. For this version I superimposed both images and split them down the middle. Earth was 152,100,527 kilometres from the Sun on the actual day of aphelion, July 5 (which was cloudy!) and 147,091,144 km from the Sun on January 5, 2020. On January 5, 2020 the Sun was at the closest perihelion of the 21st century (though by only a tiny margin), making for the largest solar disk we will see. So that made this a “supersun!” The disk was virtually spotless both days. I shot both with the same equipmment — the Astro-Physics Traveler 105mm refractor, with AP 2X Barlow for f/12 and with the Canon 60Da at ISO 100. The filter was the glass Thousand Oaks metal-on-glass filter which imparts a yellow tone to the image.
The Shifting Sunset Through the Seasons (2020)
This demonstrates the shifting sunset point through the seasons, in a version revised in June 2020. Following and marking the changing rise and set points of the Sun through the year was important to cultures around the world as it was their calendar, and indeed resulted in many archaeo-astronomy sites and structures in both the Old and New Worlds. This is a 3-image blend of images taken at the March 20, 2019 Equinox (centre), the June 19, 2020 Summer Solstice (at right, or technically the day before solstice), and at the December 21, 2019 Winter Solstice (at left). All were taken from the same location and with the same camera and lens. The composite shows the changing position of the sunset point, from far to the northwest at right in summer, to due west at centre at the equinoxes, and far to the southwest at left at the winter solstice. Snow covered the field in March and December but was the field was green in June with the crop just starting to grow. This is from a latitude of 51° N from southern Alberta. From farther north the shift would be even more pronounced. Here at this latitude ther change in azimith is about +/- 40° — i.e. 40° south of due west at the winter solstice and 40° north of due west at the summer solstice. The Sun sets due west only at the two equinoxes. I shot the March vernal equinox for this demo, as the sky was too cloudy to include the September autumnal equinox Sun. As it was, clouds on the horizon prevented a clear view of the setting Sun at the winter solstice, but the bright sunset point is still apparent. All were with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm Art lens, blended in Photoshop with gradient masks.
The Shifting Sunset Through the Seasons (2020 with Labels)
This demonstrates the shifting sunset point through the seasons, in a version revised in June 2020. Following and marking the changing rise and set points of the Sun through the year was important to cultures around the world as it was their calendar, and indeed resulted in many archaeo-astronomy sites and structures in both the Old and New Worlds. This is a 3-image blend of images taken at the March 20, 2019 Equinox (centre), the June 19, 2020 Summer Solstice (at right, or technically the day before solstice), and at the December 21, 2019 Winter Solstice (at left). All were taken from the same location and with the same camera and lens. The composite shows the changing position of the sunset point, from far to the northwest at right in summer, to due west at centre at the equinoxes, and far to the southwest at left at the winter solstice. Snow covered the field in March and December but was the field was green in June with the crop just starting to grow. This is from a latitude of 51° N from southern Alberta. From farther north the shift would be even more pronounced. Here at this latitude ther change in azimith is about +/- 40° — i.e. 40° south of due west at the winter solstice and 40° north of due west at the summer solstice. The Sun sets due west only at the two equinoxes. I shot the March vernal equinox for this demo, as the sky was too cloudy to include the September autumnal equinox Sun. As it was, clouds on the horizon prevented a clear view of the setting Sun at the winter solstice, but the bright sunset point is still apparent. All were with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm Art lens, blended in Photoshop with gradient masks.
The Shifting Sunset Through the Seasons
This demonstrates the shifting sunset point through the seasons. This is a 3-image blend of images taken at the March 20, 2019 Equinox (centre), the June 22, 2019 Summer Solstice (at right, or technically the day after solstice), and at the December 21, 2019 Winter Solstice (at left). All were taken from the same location and with the same camera and lens. The composite shows the changing position of the sunset point, from far to the northwest at right in summer, to due west at centre at the equinoxes, and far to the southwest at left at the winter solstice. Snow covered the field in March and December but was green field in June with the crop just starting to grow. This is from a latitude of 51° N from southern Alberta. From farther north the shift would be even more pronounced. Here at this latitude ther change in azimith is about +/- 40° — i.e. 40° south of due west at the winter solstice and 40° north of due west at the summer solstice. The Sun sets due west only at the two equinoxes. I shot the March vernal equinox for this demo, as the sky was too cloudy to include the September autumnal equinox Sun. As it was, clouds on the horizon prevented a clear view of the setting Sun at the two solstices, but the bright sunset points are still apparent. All were with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm Art lens, blended in Photoshop with gradient masks.
The Shifting Sunset Through the Seasons (with Labels)
This demonstrates the shifting sunset point along the horizon through the seasons. This is a 3-image blend of images taken at the March 20, 2019 Equinox (centre), the June 22, 2019 Summer Solstice (at right, or technically the day after solstice), and at the December 21, 2019 Winter Solstice (at left). All were taken from the same location and with the same camera and lens. The composite shows the changing position of the sunset point, from far to the northwest at right in summer, to due west at centre at the equinoxes, and far to the southwest at left at the winter solstice. Snow covered the field in March and December but was green field in June with the crop just starting to grow. This is from a latitude of 51° N from southern Alberta. From farther north the shift would be even more pronounced. Here at this latitude ther change in azimith is about +/- 40° — i.e. 40° south of due west at the winter solstice and 40° north of due west at the summer solstice. The Sun sets due west only at the two equinoxes. I shot the March vernal equinox for this demo, as the sky was too cloudy to include the September autumnal equinox Sun. As it was, clouds on the horizon prevented a clear view of the setting Sun at the two solstices, but the bright sunset points are still apparent. All were with the Nikon D750 and Sigma 14mm Art lens, blended in Photoshop with gradient masks.
Sunset Trail in Forest Fire Smoke
The Sun setting into a pall of forest fire smoke over Alberta from fires in B.C. and elsewhere, on August 17, 2018. This shows the dimming and reddening of the Sun as it set, with it disappearing from view long before it reached the horizon. This was from home in southern Alberta, and is a Lighten blend mode stack of 20o images taken at 1-minute intervals, and shot on Auto Exposure with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm lens. Stacking was with the Advanced Stacker Plus actions in Photoshop.
The Sun setting into a pall of forest fire smoke over Alberta from fires in B.C. and elsewhere, on August 17, 2018. This shows the dimming and reddening of the Sun as it set, with it disappearing from view long before it reached the horizon. This was from home in southern Alberta, and is a Lighten blend mode stack of 20 images taken at 10 minute intervals, and shot on Auto Exposure with the Canon 6D MkII and 35mm lens. The frames are part of a larger 200-frame timelapse processed with LRTimelapse.
Big Sunspots on the Sun (Sept. 4, 2017)
Particularly large groups of sunspots on the Sun on September 4, 2017. The group at bottom is AR 2673, the group at top is 2674. The small spot at left on the emerging limb is AR 2677, while the groups disappearing at right are AR 2675 (top) and AR 2776. I shot this through the 130mm Astro-Physics refractor with a 2x Barlow lens for an effective focal length of 1500mm and with the Canon 60Da camera for an image that just filled the frame.
The setting Sun at the Twelve Apostles sea stacks and cliffs on the Great Ocean Road, on April 12, 2017. This is an HDR stack of 7 exposures from long to short to compress the dynamic range from bright Sun and dark foreground. This nicely demonstrates the Rule of Thirds framing and composition. Merged in Adobe Camera Raw.
Sunset colours over Deadhorse Lake in southern Alberta, on July 8, 2016. The waxing crescent Moon shines amid the colourful clouds. I shot this as part of a 900-frame motion control time-lapse sequence.
Sunset at Deadhorse Lake with Abandoned Farmstead #2
Sunset at Deadhorse Lake, in southern Alberta, with an abandoned farmstead building at the foreground element. The waxing crescent Moon is at left amid the sky colours and clouds. Taken July 8, 2016 as part of a 1000-frame time-lapse sequence.
A cloudscape of a thunderstorm and rainbow fragment in the light of the low Sun from home in southern Alberta, July 3, 2016. A wonderful sky of colours, shades, and shapes. Certainly a Turneresque sky. This is a panorama stitch of 8 segments with the Sigma 20mm lens and Nikon D750.
A cloudscape of a thunderstorm and rainbow fragments in the light of the low Sun from home in southern Alberta, July 3, 2016. The clouds exhibit mammatiform cells from downdrafts. The Sun is also casting some anti-crepuscular cloud shadows converging on the centre of the rainbow arc, the anti-solar point. This is a panorama stitch of 8 segments with the Sigma 20mm lens and Nikon D750.
A very red Sun in the west amid smoke from forest fires, on August 27, 2015, from southern Alberta.
The Sun in smoke from Washington State forest fires obscuring skies in southern Alberta, August 25, 2015. The Sun was dim enough to observe naked eye and throigh binoculars at times. A large sunspot group, #AR2403, was just visible naked eye. This is a compopsite two exposures taken with no filter: a short exposire (for the Sun disk to show the sunspot) and a longer exposure (for the sky), both taken through a 200mm telephoto lens with 1.4x extender on the Canon 60Da, to replicate the view through binoculars.
Sunset Panorama at Monument Valley
A 6-section panorama of Monument Valley from the main viewpoint near The View hotel, overlooking the West and East Mittens and Merrick Butte. I shot this with the Canon 60Da and 24mm lens, stitching the segments in Photoshop.
Iridescent Clouds at Chaco Canyon
Iridescent clouds near the Sun in the afternoon sky over the Pueblo Bonito ruins at Chaco Canyon at the Chaco Culture National Hiistoric Site.
Rising Red Sun over Wheatfield
The rising Sun coming up very red amid hazy skies, at dawn on Aug 8, 2014, shot from home in Alberta. Shot with the Canon 6D and 200mm lens, handheld, with metered exposure.
The red setting Sun in haze, casting shadows across the sky – crepuscular rays - and lighting the clouds, over a ripening wheatfield near home in Alberta. This is an HDR stack of 5 exposures, handheld, with the 24mm lens and Canon 6D, at 2/3rd stop intervals, and composited with Photomatix Pro. Taken August 6,, 2014.