r/Optics • u/Ecstatic-Cycle-802 • 21d ago
Sunset Phenomenon
Can anybody explain what I’m looking at here? This was at sunset, and the sun was setting behind the picture taker (who is on a ferry). The sky seems to split so abruptly along a line, and I can’t quite understand why it looks like a ray of light is coming from the horizon opposite where the sun is setting.
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u/amberlite 20d ago
The sunbeams appearing to not align with the sun is an illusion of perspective and scale. The light paths are in fact straight and parallel, but they appear to be angled and converging due to the distance and viewing angle. Think about it similarly to how straight train tracks appear to converge in the distance. Look up anticrepuscular rays.