04 November 2008
A Purple Sunset over the BA
The photo shows fascinating purplish hues over the BA, during evening twilight. These subtle hues are due to patchy clouds, drifting in the stratosphere. These clouds are composed of volcanic ash, hurled into the air by the Kasatochi Volcano, during its eruption in early August 2008.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
On the evening of 4 November 2008, the sky of Alexandria, Egypt, was mostly clear. BA Senior Astronomy Specialist Aymen Ibrahem conducted interesting observation of sunset and the evening twilight’s colors. His images show flickering fascinating purplish hues over the western horizon, rather than the yellow–red or orange-reddish glow of twilight. These unusual hues are due to the patchy clouds, which consist of volcanic ash, hurled into the stratosphere by the powerful eruption of the Kasatochi Volcano, Alaska, USA.
Ibrahem’s images show the Library and its Planetarium in silhouette. The planet Venus, the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon, shines in the images as a star-like object. “The fantastic vivid colors lasted only about 10 minutes,” said Ibrahem. “It was a mesmerizing view. I felt as if I were taking photos of a weird, picturesque landscape, on the surface of a distant extrasolar planet!”
Following his observation of the effect of the volcanic clouds, Ibrahem photographed a dazzling planetary parade: the Moon, Venus and Jupiter were in conjunction over the western horizon. Certainly, there was no chance of collision. The three luminaries just happened to lie near the line of sight. The Moon was approximately 400,000 km away.
Venus was approximately 180 million km from Earth, and Jupiter was approximately five times more distant than Venus.
More of Ibrahem’s images are presented in the picture gallery below.
Picture Gallery
Fig (1)
Purple Twilight over the BA
Venus is the star to the left of image.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
Fig (2)
Purple Beams over the BA Planetarium
Venus is the star in the upper left.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
Fig (3)
Beams and Glow over Planetarium
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
Fig (4)
Faint Beams
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
Fig (5)
Planetary Parade over the BA
The photo shows the Moon-Venus-Jupiter conjunction of 4 November 2008.
The Moon is visible to the upper left; Jupiter is to the lower right of the Moon; Venus is visible below and right of center.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, BA, Senior Astronomy Specialist
Further Reading
Purple Sunsets
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Aymen Mohamed Ibrahem
Senior Astronomy Specialist