Prolific astrophotographer and Australian astronomer Joseph Brimacombe captured this beautiful wide-field view of crepuscular rays from the Sun last week. You definitely want to click on this image to see a larger view on Flickr. This image is made of seven frames; three exposures each. Brimacombe was lucky to get this shot; just seven minutes later (see the view here), the spectacular curtain of rays were gone.
The word crepuscular means “relating to twilight,” and these rays occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the Sun’s rays, usually when the Sun is low on the horizon. These rays are visible only when the atmosphere contains enough haze or dust particles so that sunlight in unshadowed areas can be scattered toward the observer.
Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you’re giving us permission to post them). Please explain what’s in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.
The Arecibo Message, transmitted on November 16th, 1974, from the Arecibo Observatory, was humanity's first…
Despite 90 years of research, the nature and influence of Dark Matter continue to elude…
Astronomers have just found one of the youngest planets ever. At only 3 million years…
Mars formed 4.5 billion years ago, roughly the same time as the Earth. We know…
Dark matter made out of axions may have the power to make space-time ring like…
Most of the time the Sun is pretty well-mannered, but occasionally it's downright unruly. It…