Sunlight Paints a Crimson Sky Over Gemini South
During rare cloudy weather, a vivid red sunset reflects off the dome of the international Gemini Observatory’s Gemini South telescope in Chile, a program of NSF’s NOIRLab. In this image, sunlight is scattered and reflected by gas, dust and particulates in the Earth’s atmosphere and spreads an artist’s palette of red and orange colors across the sky as the Sun sets over Chile’s Pacific coast. Fortunately, the nearby clouds reflecting these colors cleared out in time for the 8.1-meter Gemini primary mirror to collect starlight and complete a productive night of science observations — but not before treating the observatory staff to this dazzling display.
Credit:International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/B. Tafreshi
About the Image
Id: | iotw2015a |
Type: | Photographic |
Release date: | April 30, 2020, 6:53 a.m. |
Size: | 8028 x 6023 px |
About the Object
Category: | Gemini Observatory |
Image Formats
Large JPEG
8.5 MB
Publication TIFF 4K
16.1 MB
Publication JPEG
2.2 MB
Screensize JPEG
230.3 KB