Photo of the Week for April 19, 2019
From an astronomical perspective, there’s a lot to unpack in this sunset photo. First, there’s the obvious fact that we’re looking at the nearest star—the only one we can study in detail. Second, the Sun’s motion across the sky, from sunrise to sunset, is the result of our planet rotating daily on its axis.
Photographer Cathleen Mewis cleverly includes a glass sphere in the foreground to encourage an astronomical appreciation of what is otherwise a routine event. The sphere acts like a lens, and produces an inverted, wide-angle rendering of the scene.
Cathleen used a Canon EOS Rebel T5i DSLR camera fitted with a Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 zoom lens (set to 13 mm and f/20) for this 1/160-second exposure shot at ISO 400. She photographed the sunset from a location near the town of Colonsay, roughly 50 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
