Sunsets are so often described as many things, beautiful, serene, awe-inspiring, but hellish is probably not one commonly used before now.
One photographer has captured the internet’s attention with his unique photos.
While most of us were spending the end of last year drinking too much and deciding what paper-thin resolutions we would be adopting in 2020, photographer Elias Chasiotis was in Qatar.
Chasiotis had apparently made a last-minute trip to catch the annular eclipse.
The eclipse created some wonderful photo opportunities.
Chasiotis posted the pictures from his trip to his Facebook page, and alongside them wrote:
“A quick last minute’s visit to Qatar for the annular eclipse of the sun of 26 December 2019. The annular phase was blocked by clouds, but the red crescent sunrise was the most awesome sunrise I’ve ever seen!”
The most striking of Chasiotis’ images showed the sun imitating a pair of devil horns!
The images have since been shared by hundreds of people across social media. Chasiotis has also apparently been a fan of astronomy as well as photography for some years now, leading him to try and capture the astronomical occurrence.
“Astronomy has attracted me since I was a kid. I’ve been an amateur astrophotographer for the last 15 years as well.”
“I took these photos in the coastal city of Al Wakrah, Qatar, on the morning of December 26, 2019, when an annular eclipse was in progress,” Chasiotis told Bored Panda .
The phenomenon has been called the “evil sunrise”.
It’s not hard to see how this phenomenon would have come to get that nickname. The images are undoubtedly haunting, and do a great job of making it look like the horizon is a child about to go trick or treating.
Chasiotis went on to explain how the image actually came about.
As he said, “I was worried that nothing would come out of the eclipse. However, when the sun finally began to rise, it looked like two separate pieces, some sort of red horns piercing the sea. It soon took the form of a crescent, with the so-called ‘Etruscan vase’ inferior mirage effect visible. Due to its shape, the phenomenon was nicknamed the ‘evil sunrise.'”
People were quick to praise the images across social media.
Some of the public’s comments came in the forms of:
“Congratulations on your fantastic, absolutely mindblowing photographs, dear Elias Chasiotis!!! Oh the sheer beauty of it all; truly impressive!”
“Where the devil says good night”
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“Very awesome, and very well done! Thank you for sharing such amazing photos!”
Hopefully, Chasiotis will be able to capture more photos like this in the future.
Chasiotis expressed a desire to capture more photographs during the next annular eclipse in June, and the total solar eclipse in December of this year.
If those photos are anything like these, they’ll definitely be ones to check out!
h/t: Bored Panda
