When Venus Rises with the Sun

This dramatic telephoto view across the Black Sea on June 6, 2012 finds Venus rising with the Sun,
the planet in silhouette against a ruddy and ragged solar disk. Of course, the reddened light
is due to scattering in planet Earth's atmosphere and the rare transit of Venus didn't influence
the strangely shaped and distorted Sun. In fact, seeing the Sun in the shape of an Etruscan Vase
is relatively common, especially compared to Venus transits. At sunset and sunrise, the effects of
atmospheric refraction enhanced by long, low, sight lines and strong atmospheric temperature
gradients produce the visual distortions and mirages. That situation is often favored by a sea horizon.