Solar Cauldron - Sun setting over Rottnest Island lighthouse

A snippet of the Bad Astronomy article (full article at http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/03/26/video_solar_cauldron.html):

Legg filmed this on a beach in Perth, Australia, facing west (duh) where he could see the Rottnest Island lighthouse 23 kilometers (14 miles) away using his telescope and video camera setup. As you look to the horizon a number of optical effects come into play, as the layers and turbulence in Earth’s air distorts the image of the Sun. It gets flattened, for one, squashed like someone sitting on a beachball. The colors at the top of the Sun can also be separated, generating flashes of green and blue that are difficult to observe and treasured by photographers and scientists alike.

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