Images du Soleil et de la Lune, depuis le sol ou la Station spatiale internationale

Abstract

Study of the image formation near the optical horizon for a regular atmosphere. One investigates in detail the case of the Sun and Moon at rise and set and provides the relationship between the image flattening and the local physical conditions for a standard atmosphere. The second case deals with a more complex situation of a documented observation of the moonset observed on board of the space station (ISS) by astronauts, displaying large distortions in the image. An analytical and numerical approach allows us to account for the details of this observation. We show that the vertical scale of this famous image is likely wrong.