Today's Image

Solstice sun rolling down the hill

Posted by
Deborah Byrd
and
December 24, 2016
Animation of December 21, 2016 solstice sunset by Helio C. Vital.

Helio C. Vital wrote:

Here are some images of the solstice sun that I captured on December 21, 2016. They show the sun setting over the Tijuca Peak in Rio.

[At top] an 8-frame animation shows the sun setting 10 hours after the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. Like a ball rolling down the left side of the 1.0-km-high Tijuca Peak at a distance of 6.4 km, there it apparently goes, in spite of actually being millions of times farther away. Amazingly the slope of the peak as well as of the celestial great circles roughly coincide, forming an angle of about 23° with the vertical, equal to Rio`s tropical latitude.

I used a Canon SX60 HS camera with a filter for solar observation.

Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year full of peace, joy, love, heath and achievements!

Best wishes from Rio.

The sun seen next to Tijuca Peak in Rio on December 21. Photo by Helio C. Vital.
Venus seen high in Rio’s western sky after sunset on December 20, 2016. As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, it is also in the west after sunset, but lower in the twilight sky. Photo by Helio C. Vital.

Bottom line: 8-frame animation of the sun setting behind Tijuca Peak in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on December 21, 2016, the Southern Hemisphere’s summer solstice.

Celebrate 2017 with an EarthSky moon calendar!

Posted 
December 24, 2016
 in 
Today's Image

Deborah Byrd

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About the Author:
Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. In 2020, she won the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society, the largest organization of professional astronomers in North America. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

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