Venus or lense flare??

[ac0203]

Hi All

Just got back from Greece and was going through the holiday pics that my gf took and found a very interesting one. She took a sunrise pic at about 7:30am on 03/09/2011 and looking at it you can see something small and round below and to the left of the sun.

I had a play about in Stellarium and it does seem like Venus would have been around that position on that day at that time.

It was taken with just a bog standard, nothing special digital camera that she has had for years.

What do you think? Was it Venus or just a lense flare?

:-)

Alan

[JB80]

It almost looks like a sundog but I'd be willing to bet it's just lens flare. It wouldn't be Venus even if it was in the right position.

[Dave]

Too close to the Sun to be a Sun Dog.

Venus wouldn't be bright enough on the far side of the Sun to show up like that.

Looks like lens flare to me.

Nice atmospheric shot though.

[ac0203]

Thanks guys, wishful thinking I suppose ;-)

Newbie question now...whats a Sun Dog?

[jgs001]

I'd have to say lens flare too, it's a lovely image of the sunrise though..

As for sundog's they are atmospheric effects...

Sundogs, Sun Dogs, Parhelia, Mock Suns

[JimStan]

Here is a prime example of a Sundog. Sorry for the circular scratches and dust. It was taken with an ANCIENT half-frame 35mm camera with a rotary shutter ! The image was a vertical format ( you had to hold the camera SIDEWAYS to take a landscape picture ) who's longest dimension was the width of the film between the sprocket holes.

Anyway, here is the thumbnail. Click on it to see the reduced fullsize scan. I took this picture around 1967 when I worked at the radio station, one of who's towers you see in the picture.

You can see the frozen raindrops on the roof of the car. The air was THICK with ice crystals, which formed the sundog and the portion of the halo you see there !

[Peter Drew]

Could have been the Sun reflecting off something on the horizon.

[vegaandarctures]

Its probably a lens flair. The sun would wash Venus out completely. Gorgeous picture though

[yeti monster]

Another vote for lens flair, either that or it's 'them' sneaking up on us...

[Pavel]

I think it`s a lense flare, too.

[Anweniel]

Either lens flare or was taken from the newly discovered binary planet, aptly named Tatooine and a good shot of the double sun rise

[Ags]

That's Nibiru! Run for the hills!