Abstract
IMMEDIATELY after sunset enormous rays of light are frequently seen spreading from the part of the horizon where the sun has disappeared, and also—though somewhat fainter—from the opposite part of the horizon. Sometimes the rays stret ch right across the sky, and when strongly developed they appear first in the east, and then in the west, and resemble auroral rays, glowing in a yellow or red colour, while the sky between the rays is deep blue or greenish. They appear to be caused by invisible cirro-stratus clouds high up in the air. This phenomenon is never seen in England, or at any rate it is by no means so conspicuous as here. Ancient Greek mariners may have had their imagination impressed by a similar phenomenon,?οδοδάκτ?λος?ohacgr;ς being so frequently mentioned in Homer.
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DOBERCK, W. Crepuscular Rays in China. Nature 37, 464 (1888). https://doi.org/10.1038/037464b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/037464b0
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