Diverging Parallel Light Rays?..Crepuscular rays appear to burst out of the sun and up into the sky;

Diverging Parallel Light Rays?..Crepuscular rays appear to burst out of the sun and up into the sky; or burst out of the sun and down onto the horizon. They fool the naked eye because as divergent and widespread as they may appear, the rays are actually parallel to one another. The rays only appear to be angled and sprouting from a central point mostly due to atmospheric variables.A couple things need to happen in order for these types of rays to become visible. First, there needs to be a medium thick enough so that the light particles travel through it and reflect into our eyes. Dust, humidity, and fog in this photo’s case, help us see the rays more clearly. Secondly, shadows help these rays become visible by breaking the light up into beams. If you notice, between each line of sunlight you can also see a contrasting shadow or dark line. These shadows can be casted by a number of things: clouds, trees, buildings, etc…Without them, the light would be consistently shining over one larger area and there wouldn’t be any individual light beams.So next time you look up at the setting sun and see this natural phenomenon, be grateful for it. Crepuscular rays are unique in how they appear because our atmosphere is unique in its composition. That means that nowhere else in the universe are there sunsets like there are here on earth. That itself is just awesome.–Pete DPhoto Credit:Steve Lacyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_lacy/142536262/sizes/l/in/photostream/References:1. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=762612. http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/%28Gh%29/guides/mtr/opt/air/crp.rxml3. http://www.demark.org/essays/CrepuscularRays.html4. http://www.kuriositas.com/2012/05/incredible-crepuscular-rays-sunbeams.html5. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/11/02/crepuscular-rays-are-parallel/#.UVSZLjeQN9w -- source link

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