Anybody up for another sunset?

[Blue_In_AK]

I'm sorry, I just can't help myself. After we got back from our walk last night, I could see that the sunset was going to be pretty fantastic, so I hopped in the car, drove down to Earthquake Park and took this photo looking north toward Mt. McKinley. That little bump you see there across the water is Mt. Foraker, McKinley's twin.



Here's one closer up. I only had the 17-85 mm lens with me, so this was as close as I could get, but it's not too bad considering the mountains are 200 miles away.



We will be much closer to Denali when we're on our trip, so I'm praying for some good weather. The mountain is only visible about 40 percent of the time because it makes its own clouds, so even on the clearest day, sometimes you can't see it if you're up close because of the clouds around the base.

P.S. I should mention that these were taken at 10:50 at night, and the sky was still light here at midnight. Since we're going to be up almost to the Arctic Circle, I probably won't get any sleep at all while we're gone.

[JeffR]

1. Thanks

I needed that!:D

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I had you in mind. :-)

[Ms. Toad]

3. Love the second one n/t

[RagingInMiami]

4. I like the first one

Nicely framed and you were able to capture the multi-colors and layers in the sky.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Awesome! Beautiful!

One of the things I love about Alaska is that the curvature of the earth is so much less, and with the rare air there you can see literally for hundreds of miles!

[TahitiNut]

6. Huh? (Uhm...) No, not so.

The earth is a slightly bulging sphere with an average radius of about 6,368 km and a variance of about 21 km, about 0.3% of it's radius. To compare, this is almost exactly the same as the difference in elevation between the highest places on earth and the lowest places on earth. Indeed, it's not even the same all along the equator, and the 'bulge' actually is largest slightly below the equator.

The so-called "pear shape" variance, which slightly flattens it at the south pole and slightly 'peaks' it at the north pole, is a variance of about 10 meters. That's ten meters. These are variances so small that it takes satellites and the most precise measurements technology permits to even measure it - variances one must travel from the from the south pole to the north pole to 'experience'.

Just think. If we'd never developed ICBMs with inertial guidance systems, we might not have discovered this. :evilgrin:

The apparent distance to the horizon is hugely affected by one's elevation, and a seemingly small elevation (at the top of the mast of a sailing ship, for example) makes a big difference in the distance one can see. (This is actually why lookouts were elevated - at the topmast - during the age of sail. It's why the bridge of ships is elevated.) If one is on gently sloping terrain and at one of the highest elevations on that terrain, the illusion of a "big sky" and a more distant horizon is pronounced because one is not really aware of being elevated. This illusion of a "big sky" often experienced in Montana (the "Big Sky" state), Texas, some parts of Kansas, and Alaska, particularly near coastal areas. Clear air, relatively free of dust, humidity, and photochemical smog enhances the illusion.