'Distorted' sunrise photos depict sinister image: 'Evil sunrise'
A photo of a sunrise over Qatar amid a partial eclipse seems to have a sinister hidden meaning.
Astronomer Elias Chasiotis snapped the picture and shared it on his Facebook, thanking photographer Iakovos Strikis for processing them.
In the photo, the pink sun is being overshadowed by the moon, making it look like devil horns are emerging out from the water.
Chasiotis reportedly flew to Al Wakrah from Athens to capture the "ring of fire." He told NBC that he was initially anxious that he would not get the shot because of some cloudiness, but took out his camera the moment he saw the sun rising from the sea "in two pieces."
“I was worried that nothing would come out of the eclipse," Chasiotis told Bored Panda. "However, when the sun finally began to rise, it looked like two separate pieces, some sort of red horns piercing the sea. It soon took the form of a crescent, with the so-called ‘Etruscan vase’ inferior mirage effect visible. Due to its shape, the phenomenon was nicknamed the ‘evil sunrise.'”
The base of the "horns" are flared out, which is caused by a mirage effect from the light bent by warm air within the Earth's atmosphere — called the Etruscan Vase effect. In the third photo posted on Chasiotis's Facebook, the effect is even easier to see at the bottom curve of the sun.
"This sunrise was the most stunning sunrise I have ever seen," Chasiotis told NBC. NASA posted it as their Astronomy Picture of the Day for Dec. 28 and titled it "A Distorted Sunrise Eclipse."
Two solar eclipses will occur in 2020: One on June 21 which will be visible across eastern Africa and southern Asia, and one total eclipse that will be visible in southern Chile and Argentina on Dec. 14.
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