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Credit: Tyler Blessing
Explanation:
What in heaven's blazes is that?
When landing in
Minneapolis,
Minnesota,
USA in 2002, just after
his flight descended below cloud level in the early evening,
passenger Tyler Blessing saw and photographed "huge curved sheets of
glowing light extending from cloud to ground."
The glow appeared unlike other unusual lights more typically seen, including
crepuscular rays,
anticrepuscular rays and
the
glory.
A leading possibility, mentioned initially by the photographer, is that the light
sheets are setting sunlight scattered off of
falling
rain.
Alternatively, the phenomenon could just be a peculiar
window reflection.
APOD readers, who have previously shown an impressive ability to pool their
collective intelligence to create a better understanding of
photographed
sky
anomalies, are invited to
discuss this online.
It might help to know that
EXIF data indicates that the image
was captured on 2002 September 23 at about 8:07 pm in the evening (local time), and
that the camera was reported to be pointing north of west at that time.
The oval on the ground, visible in the lower right of the above image, is
Canterbury Downs race
track.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Earth - airplane
Publications with words: Earth - airplane
See also: