Explanation:
What's happening over the horizon?
Although the scene may appear somehow
supernatural,
nothing more unusual is occurring than a
setting Sun and some well placed clouds.
Strangely, the actual sunset was occurring in the opposite direction from where the camera was pointing.
Pictured above are
anticrepuscular rays.
To understand them, start by picturing common
crepuscular rays that are seen any time that sunlight pours though scattered clouds.
Now although sunlight indeed travels along
straight lines, the projections of these lines onto the
spherical sky are
great circles.
Therefore, the
crepuscular rays from a
setting (or rising) sun
will appear to re-converge on the other side of the sky.
At the anti-solar point 180 degrees around from the
Sun, they are referred to as
anticrepuscular rays.
While enjoying the sunset after visiting NASA's
Kennedy Space Center in
Florida,
the photographer chanced to find that an even
more spectacular sight was occurring in the other direction just over the
Atlantic Ocean -- a particularly vivid set of
anticrepuscular rays.
