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Rays
and shadows stretch across the sky. A
unique 180º fisheye view by Tom J. Martinez of Cleveland, Missouri.
"While waiting for the sky to get dark at a star party near Marion,
Kansas, I saw crepuscular rays extend from where the sun was setting,
across the sky, to the antisolar point." Image ©2003 Tom
J Martinez, shown with permission.
The rays are all parallel to each other, real columns of sunlit and
shadowed air. In the west, perspective effects make them appear to
converge towards the sun as they get more distant. They again appear
to converge in the east, this time towards the antisolar point. The
rays in the antisolar direction, are called anti-crepuscular.
This image shows brilliantly that familiar crepuscular rays and the
less well known anti-crepuscular rays are really the same objects.
The easterly sky contains another shadow. Look at the dark wedge shape
starting right of center and highest where the anticrepuscular rays
converge. This is the shadow of the earth
itself cast upon the atmosphere. |
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