Don't forget the Earth shadow

I never get tired of seeing our closest star set below the horizon. Seeing how the landscape changes as the warm light gets fainter by the minute. Every sunset has its personality depending och location, weather and season. Here in the higher latitudes we have our bright summer nights and during winter the Sun sets in the afternoon and darkness falls quite fast.

Midwinter sunset with a bright solar halo.

Another beautiful thing about a sunset is what happens right after the Sun has set. If turn around, you can slowly see the Earth shadow rising from the horizon. A low horizon is preferred to get a better view of the phenomena. 

As twilight deepens a dark blue band slowly rises upwards from the horizon. This band is the shadow of the Earth projected on the atmosphere. Above the blue shadow band you can also se a pink band called the anti-twilight arch or "Belt of Venus". The pink color comes from scattered and deeply reddened sunlight mixed with the deep blues colors of the sky.

Moonrise in Earth shadow and Belt of Venus.

The same thing happens before a sunrise. Look in the opposite direction of the rising Sun and you will see the Earth shadow sinking towards the horizon as the Sun rises.

Earth shadow is also visible before sunrise.

So next time you're watching a sunset, stay out a bit longer and don't forget to look behind you to see the Earth shadow rise.

Don't forget to look behind you after sunset.

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Great Lake Ice

This is a video that I shot on December 12 last year. It was a really cold winter day with temperatures below -20°C. I was out during the whole day and shot the ice forming on lake Storsjön. It was fantastic to see the first ray of lights from the Sun hit the ice covered landscape and colors it in its warm colors. Hopefully this video will show you what I experienced that day.


Music Chris Zabriskie - Clynder Three from the album Cylinders.

Sunrise in Östersund

Soluppgång i Östersund denna morgon. Himlen fick en vacker gyllene färg precis bakom Rådhuset. I förgrunden syns en staty av det mytomspunna Storsjöodjuret.

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Sunrise in Östersund this morning. The sky had a golden color just behind Rådhuset (City hall). In the foreground you can see a statue of the mythical Great-Lake Monster (Storsjöodjuret in Swedish).

Green and blue flashes

En bild från gårdagens soluppgång som uppvisade gröna och blå solblixtar. Dessa gröna och blå solblixtar är ett optiskt fenomen som kan uppstå i sällsynta fall vid soluppgång och solnedgång. Fenomenet uppstår då solstrålarna böjs i jordens atmosfär. Ljus med en högre frekvens (grönt och blått ljus) böjs mer än till exempel det röda ljuset som har en lägre frekvens. Dessa blixtar kan därför synas även då solskivan inte syns. Se en tidigare bild jag tagit som visar detta - http://blogg.astrofotografen.se/2012/06/gron-blixt.html. De blå blixtarna är betydligt ovanligare än de gröna.

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A picture from yesterday's sunrise that showed some green and blue flashes. These green and blue flashes is an optical phenomenon that can occur in rare cases at sunrise and sunset. The phenomenon occurs when the sun's rays are bent in the Earth's atmosphere. Light with a higher frequency (green and blue) is bent more than, say, the red light of a lower frequency. These flashes can be seen even when the solar disk is not visible. See a previous picture I took that shows this - http://blogg.astrofotografen.se/2012/06/gron-blixt.html. The blue flashes is much rarer than the green ones.