Sunset and Dawn

Atmospheric Beauty

Near sunset on October 29th, after a long day of rain and overcast, I noticed a strange orange light outside. Past experience made me think a rainbow might be visible opposite the nearly setting sun. Sure enough, when I rushed outside with my phone camera I saw the next two views. A bit of secondary rainbow is visible in the second picture. Click on these panoramic images to enlarge them.

Just a few days later, On November 3rd, I happened to look out the window near dawn and saw the following display of crepuscular rays. Click on the image to enlarge it.

The bright pink rays are sunlight passing through gaps in distant unseen clouds below the horizon. The darker blue rays are shadows cast by these same distant clouds. The dark and light rays are actually parallel to each other, but their source is so far away that they appear to converge just as parallel railroad tracks seem to converge in the distance. (Crepuscular means "relating to twilight".)

I continue to be surprised and astounded by the capability of my phone camera. In future posts I hope further explore how well the camera can capture sky scenes.