Science/ meteorology question

[CalamityJanet]

Does anyone know if there is a name/explanation for this phenomenon? The first photo was taken facing west. The sun was setting behind the approaching storm front. The second photo was taken within a minute of the first, from the same spot, but facing east. What is the source of the light rays coming up from the eastern horizon? I'm really curious about this, but didn't try Googling because I don't know what to search for.

Both photos are straight out of the camera...more of my storm front photos with the 10-22mm lens.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/187PSTJibUyg2i9NFTss1mxY3WSCh_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=187PSTJibUyg2i9NFTss1mxY3WSCh)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1uSSlxZn4M1NWvPzFd5f1MHIR1T5b_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1uSSlxZn4M1NWvPzFd5f1MHIR1T5b)

[Chuck S.]

Janet, is there a town just over the horizon to the east? From the image you posted, it looked like it could be a concentration of ground lights causing the rays....

[CalamityJanet]

Nope, nothing that would cause that kind of rays with that much daylight still present. I have other shots facing that direction from another location about 15 minutes earlier when there was even more bright daylight and the rays are visible. It was really beautiful, but puzzling. We were riding through the tour roads of the Yorktown Battlefields. We do that at least twice a week, usually late in the day, so the dogs can look for deer. We've been doing this for many years and I've never seen anything like this. I'll take a look at a map and see if there is a clue there, but i think that the only thing beyond that point on the horizon is the point where the Atlantic Ocean meets the mouth of the York River and the Chesapeake Bay.

[Chuck S.]

Janet, the answer may be here:

Sunrise and Sunset Phenomena (http://www.weatherscapes.com/techniques.php?cat=optics&page=twilight)

Scroll down to the section on Twilight Rays.

[TonyW]

I'm only a very amateur sky watcher but I did have a link to atmospheric phenomena os I looked it up and they look to me like anticrepuscular rays

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/atoptics/anti1.htm

One's facing west would be crepuscular (the site has a lot of good pictures of other effects)

Tony

[Chuck S.]

Tony, I understand they have some new medications to treat anticrepuscular rays....

:D

p.s. Thanks for the link, which is now bookmarked.

[CalamityJanet]

Thanks, Tony! That site is incredible and I've bookmarked it for further research. I think you're right...they're anticrepuscular rays. Fascinating!

Thank you, too, Chuck! You and Tony were on the same page, so to speak. I've also bookmarked your site so I can go back and explore the galleries.

I know they say that anticrepuscular rays aren't rare, but I spent almost 20 years working shiftwork in a refinery on the York River, just a mile or two from where these photos were taken. I've seen hundreds of sunrises and sunsets from the dock there and I've never seen those rays before! Saw lots of crepuscular rays, though. Since retiring I really miss seeing the sunrises. It was the only good thing about that working 12-hour shifts on the river.

[CalamityJanet]

Chuck!:D It does sound like a nasty ailment, doesn't it!

[quillabee9]

Now we have new vocabulary to practise.

[Chuck S.]

Chuck!:D It does sound like a nasty ailment, doesn't it!

Perhaps it'll respond to my anti-arthritis meds....:p

[CalamityJanet]

I went back to my photos' exif...the first shot of the anti rays was at 7:18pm, and the last was at 7:39, when we drove away to get down to the river and they were still visible then, so they lasted well over 20 minutes. I think this was a rare sighting because of the duration...one of the websites said they only last about 5 minutes.

Here's a couple more. The first one is the crepuscular rays as the storm was approaching from the southwest. The second is an earlier shot of the anticrepuscular rays. Maybe if I had a fisheye lens I could have made 'em meet in the middle!

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1XNP5jc5PAC2Xu6Zfw01ocqrTf2_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1XNP5jc5PAC2Xu6Zfw01ocqrTf2)

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1QobVIEI1jlDOFfi06rPWfJBCkDT30_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1QobVIEI1jlDOFfi06rPWfJBCkDT30)

[Chuck S.]

Really nice photos, Janet!

[CalamityJanet]

Thanks, Chuck! Sometimes extreme wide-angle isn't wide enough...you should have seen it in person. Now get out and get that 10-22mm and show us what those Texas skies can do!

[TonyW]

Those are great pictures - only time I can remember seeing them was driving home at sunset down an East-West road going East - I guess you miss them a lot of the time as you're too busy watching the sunset.

And it is a great word :eek: - going to have to use it more often :D . And yes - dogs and cats are crepuscular not nocturnal....

Tony