Anticrepuscular rays - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

12/21/15, 13:14

Anticrepuscular rays
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anticrepuscular rays or antisolar rays[1] are similar to crepuscular

rays, but seen opposite the sun in the sky. Anticrepuscular rays are nearparallel, but appear to converge at the antisolar point because of linear
perspective.[2] Anticrepuscular rays are most frequently visible near
sunrise or sunset. Crepuscular rays are usually much brighter than
anticrepuscular rays. This is because for crepuscular rays, seen on the
same side of the sky as the sun, the atmospheric light scattering and
making them visible is taking place at small angles (see Mie theory).
Although anticrepuscular rays appear to converge onto a point opposite
the sun, the convergence is actually an illusion. The rays are in fact
(almost) parallel, and their apparent convergence is to the vanishing

Anticrepuscular rays converging to

the antisolar point, viewed from
above

point at infinity.[3]

References
1. Cowley, Les, "Anti-solar (anti-crepuscular) rays", Atmospheric Optics,
retrieved March 19, 2015
2. John A. Day (2005), The Book of Clouds, Sterling Publishing Company,
Inc., pp. 124127, ISBN 978-1-4027-2813-6, retrieved 2010-10-09
3. Cowley, Les, "Antisolar rays", Atmospheric Optics, retrieved March 19,
2015

External links
Media related to Anticrepuscular rays at Wikimedia Commons
Atmospheric optics: anticrepuscular rays
(http://www.atoptics.co.uk/atoptics/anti1.htm)
Images of anticrepuscular rays at Astronomy Picture of the Day
site (copyrighted images):
Image of anticrepuscular rays in Colorado taken by John
Britton (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap081116.html)
A particularly vivid image taken by Daniel Herron of
Woodstock, GA
(http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060917.html)
Taken between Miami and Bahamas by Aman Gupta

Anticrepuscular rays opposite the

setting sun off the Florida Gulf Coast
of the United States

Anticrepuscular rays and double

rainbow opposite the setting sun on
the northern shore of Lake Ontario

(http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anticrepuscular.JPG)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticrepuscular_rays

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Anticrepuscular rays - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

12/21/15, 13:14

Anticrepuscular rays are visible in the right of this panoramic photo of Chandler, Arizona

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