Sunsets from the summit of Mt. Lemmon

Working as I do at the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, I am often treated to sunset from the 9157 foot summit of Mt. Lemmon.  Whether it is with our guests looking for the Sun's Green Rim or simply at the end of a day doing other work it remains a special place and special time.  Here are a few of the various sunset images that I have taken over the past year.  Remember you can click each image to enlarge it.

Guests enjoying the late season snow while preparing to view the Green Rim

Beautiful Sunset portending a very stable evening of observation

Sun setting into a layer of dust in the valley

Sun having dipped below the dust layer

The shadow of Mount Lemmon rising in the east (Sun is behind me)

A view of Kitt Peak National Observatory

Shafts of light through a late summer monsoon

And of course, my favorite sunset image of the past year is the image below, taken during the June 2012 Transit of Venus.  It was taken through my TEC 140 with a Herschel Prism and shows quite a bit of atmospheric distortion...Obviously, Venus is the blob at lower left, just touching the horizon.  This is my favorite as not only had I purchased my first DSLR the week ahead of the transit, but this event will not repeated for anyone alive today.

2012 Transit of Venus Sunset