[Imaging Sun and Moon near horizon, from ground or the International Space Station]
Study of the image formation near the optical horizon for a regular atmosphere. One investigates in detail the case of the Sun and Moon at rise and set and provides the relationship between the image flattening and the local physical conditions for a standard atmosphere. The second case deals with a more complex situation of a documented observation of the moonset observed on board of the space station (ISS) by astronauts, displaying large distortions in the image. An analytical and numerical approach allows us to account for the details of this observation. We show that the vertical scale of this famous image is likely wrong.
Étude sur deux exemples de la formation des images au voisinage de l’horizon dans le cas d’une atmosphère régulière. Cas du Soleil ou de la Lune au lever/coucher pour un observateur terrestre avec la relation quantitative entre la valeur de l’aplatissement et les conditions atmosphériques locales. Confrontation d’une observation plus complexe du coucher de la Lune à bord de la station spatiale (ISS), impliquant des déformations non symétriques. Approche analytique et numérique reproduisant les détails de cette observation et démontrant que l’échelle verticale de cette célèbre image est probablement inexacte.
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Keywords: refraction, sunset, moonset, ISS, ray tracing, atmospheric optics
François Mignard 1
@article{CRPHYS_2022__23_S1_391_0, author = {Fran\c{c}ois Mignard}, title = {Images du {Soleil} et de la {Lune,} depuis le sol ou la {Station} spatiale internationale}, journal = {Comptes Rendus. Physique}, pages = {391--414}, publisher = {Acad\'emie des sciences, Paris}, volume = {23}, number = {S1}, year = {2022}, doi = {10.5802/crphys.122}, language = {fr}, }
François Mignard. Images du Soleil et de la Lune, depuis le sol ou la Station spatiale internationale. Comptes Rendus. Physique, Astronomy, Atmospheres and Refraction, Volume 23 (2022) no. S1, pp. 391-414. doi : 10.5802/crphys.122. https://comptes-rendus.academie-sciences.fr/physique/articles/10.5802/crphys.122/
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