Today’s Clark Lake dawn was preceded by the moon setting in the northwest sky, a few short minutes before. The moonset, at 7:15 am, was striking. It settled into the spot normally reserved for sunsets at the absolute peak of summer. As you can see in the photo, refraction of the atmosphere expanded its size.
Then came dawn, and the Spirit Cam at the west end was ready for action. The sunrise video below compresses 36 minutes into 30 seconds, starting at 7:24 am and concluding at 8 am, (Of course the tag photo at the end was taken much later, but from the exact same perspective as the dawn photos). Enjoy.
Photo and video: Rick Belcher
Nice photos! However, one comment: the apparent larger size of the moon on the horizon is not caused by (increased) light refraction through the atmosphere. It is actually a psychological illusion. The moon image (on the horizon) is actually the same size as it is at any point in the sky. You can prove this by taking photos at different elevations and then measuring them. You can also take a 3 x 5 card and cut a V into it and note the width of the moon at different elevations–always the same size.
This illusion has been discussed at length in the scientific literature (and there several different theories proposed. A nice, readable, discussion can be found in Scientific American here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-do-the-moon-and-the-s/