Abstract
THE striking phenomenon reported by Dr. J. J. Hopfield1 is occasionally seen in Great Britain. I have witnessed two excellent examples, one on June 24, 19352, and another on September 12, 19363, at Hastings. Mr. W. L. Baxter has recorded a similar occurrence on March 17, 1934, at South Farnborough, Hants4. In two of the cases mentioned, the sun had set 20–25 minutes previously. The rays were pale rose or delicate pink in two of these records and orangeyellow in the remaining one, and were of considerable width. The rays extended completely across the sky from north-west to south–east on June 24, 1935, and from west to east on September 12, 1936, and convergence due to perspective was extremely well and strikingly seen. These rays are perhaps more likely to be observed in thundery weather when hard and well-defined cumulus clouds may be ranged low down on the horizon (or even below the horizon) so that protuberances on the cloud throw shadows much in the same way as is commonly seen when the sun is shining brightly behind well-defined cumuli during the daytime. In the latter case rays may be both projected upwards and radiating from the sun as a centre if the cloud is large and unbroken and with a hard summit, or projected downwards to the ground (a much commoner occurrence) if there are breaks or holes in the cloud sheets.
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References
NATURE, 141, 333 (1938).
Met. Mag., 70, 158 (1935).
Met. Mag., 71, 210 (1936).
Met. Mag., 69, 119 (1931).
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MOOW, A. Letters to Editor. Nature 141, 558 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141558d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141558d0
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