Even if the tree was taken separately from the sun and added together using film or photoshop, the sun photo would require the same zoom as if it were one shot (though maybe not all lens zoom).

Anything can be AI. There's really no point bringing that up unless you somehow know it is.

Hmm it's possible. Nothing really stands out about the pic. I have some questions about whether things work like that, 3 of them, but I could see them either being realistic or not:

1. Does the sun normally look more yellow at the top and red at the bottom from any of the techniques used to photograph the sun?
2. Should the bits of light shining through smaller holes be the same colour as the sun behind it or is there some optical effects that cause it to vary depending on where that hole is? (Some match, some don't)
3. The tree looks like a pine tree past the orb but bare in front of the orb. Should this be the case or would the needless normally be more visible in front of the orb, too?

That said, my initial question wasn't intended to call it a fake or anything, was just curious about how far away that tree had to be for that shot, because I think it's possible and plausible that it's real, but might have required a sniper level lens shot from the next mountain over. Or maybe some specific wide or narrow angle lens from much closer.

The moon fits perfectly injustice the tree, but the photo doesn't fit perfectly inside the image canvas. Notice the black part of the bottom of the image. That part should probably be cropped off. 🙂