Transit Distortion

As seen on the National Geographic News a distorted Sun with a “blemish” on its face rises over the Caspian Sea in a picture of the 2012 transit of Venus taken from the shores of Azerbaijan. During the transit—the last one until 2117—Venus crossed between Earth and the sun, so that observers could see a black dot gliding over the solar disk. The sun appears squashed in this frame because more of its light is being bent by the thick layers of Earth’s atmosphere. The image is a frame of this stunning photo sequence showing the rising sun and Venus transit.