Sunset Panorama of Clear Sky
October 10, 2011
The fisheye panorama above showing the sunset sky near Balatongyörök, Hungary is composed of 64 individual photos. On this late summer's day (August 20), the sky was quite clear as the Sun dipped below the horizon. The lavender color, above and around the pine trees, is due to volcanic-based sulfuric dioxide (SO2) from the mid-June eruption of Nabro Volcano in Eritrea (Africa). Gases in the eruption plume reached into the stratosphere, where tiny droplets of acidic aerosols were created. These aerosols were then illuminated by the waning sunlight. The fringe of pink/orange on the left side (east) of the panorama, closer to the horizon than the lavender band, is the Belt of Venus -- sunlight illuminating the rising Earth's shadow. The dark layer adjacent to the horizon is the unlit portion of the Earth's shadow. Photos taken 10 minutes after local sunset.
Photo details: Konica-Minolta Dynax 5D camera; 10mm Sigma lens; f 4.5; ISO 200; 1/125 sec. exposure.