Anticrepuscular Rays

Lights from ... an optical phenomenon

While I was looking for the supermoonrise (august, 29 2015), I was surprised by this spectacular phenomenon : anticrepuscular rays.

It was this day that I saw a rare atmospheric event : Sky Wide Rays (https://flic.kr/p/xJyM4n)
We all know the famous crepuscular rays which form in gaps between clouds at sunset. These usual rays seem to come from the Sun itself and go far away.

In contrast, anticrepuscular rays seem to converge at a point located opposite of the Sun, called antisolar point. However, this is just an illusion of perspective, because actually they are genuinely parallel !
These rays are not rare but hardly spottable since they are far less brighter than classical crepuscular rays.
In this picture, we notice blue straight lines corresponding to clouds 's shadows (clouds which are located far away behind the camera, on the right) and orange strips corresponding to light gates coming from the sun setting.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Feel free to drop me a comment!