Babak Tafreshi, editor of Nojum (Astronomy) Magazine in Iran, took
this picture of his parents viewing the partial phases of the August 11,
1999 eclipse at Nahavand, Iran. Can you figure out what you're seeing here
and why it looks like the Sun is behind the observers?
Scroll down for the explanation.
Click the picture to return to the Iran page.
The dark area on the right is a person's hand in shadow as he holds
a round glass solar filter. Because only 1/100,000 of the light gets through
the filter, only the partially eclipsed Sun is bright enough to be seen
through it. The observers and the clouds seen within the circle of the
solar filter are reflections off the glass. Thus, the observers are actually
standing behind the camera and the Sun is in front of them. The
clouds visible around the circle of the solar filter are viewed directly,
i.e., they are in front of the camera.
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