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A Rose in Space

19 January 2008

Cosmic Rose
The picture shows sunset over Miami, Alexandria, Egypt.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

On the evening of 17 January 2008, there were wonderful patterns of high clouds over Alexandria, Egypt. BA Senior Astronomy Specialist, Aymen Ibrahem, pictured a fascinating sunset on that day.

“Roses are my favorite flowers,” said Ibrahem with a smile. “I was observing sunset from a beach near my home. The western horizon was cloudy, but hopefully, I tried to snap the setting Sun through small breaks in the drifting clouds. I was interested in recording optical atmospheric phenomena, such as the sunset mirage and the flattening of the Sun disc near the horizon. I also expected that the high clouds would glimmer in spectacular colors during sunset and evening twilight. Interestingly, about 2 minutes before sunset, the Sun shone through the clouds. It was pale and rose-tinged. I took wide-angle photos, showing the high clouds and the Sun over the sea. The Sun disc was flattened and distorted, due to optical atmospheric effects. There was a beautiful small island in the foreground, adding to the beauty of the fascinating scene. Following sunset, the icy high clouds were flickering in hues of yellow, pink and red, due to reflection of sunlight. This ice and color spectacle lasted about 20 minutes.”

Ibrahem named his series of images “A Rose in Space”. Some of his images are presented in the picture gallery below.

Picture Gallery

Fig (1)
A Golden Sunset
The photo shows colorful high clouds during sunset.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

Fig (2)
An Ellipsoidal Star
The photo shows the flattening and distortion of the Sun disc that occur due to optical atmospheric effect. The Sun disc is rather oval in shape, due to refraction of sunlight through the thicker atmospheric layers near the horizon. The lower portion of the Sun disc is dimmer and of a darker hue, also due to refraction effects.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

Fig (3)
A Balloon in Space
The Sun is distorted into the shape of a balloon, due to refraction by the atmosphere.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

Fig (4)
Zooming in on Cosmic Rose
This close-up photo shows the distortion of the Sun disc.
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

Fig (5)
Red Star beyond Golden Clouds
Photo by Aymen Ibrahem, Senior Astronomy Specialist

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