Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: Rays of Sunshine



There's a book which i think is by Greenler called something like
Sunspots, Halos, and other Atmospheric Phenomena..I'd bet it has a
complete description and probably has photos. Karl

Hi,

Here is something for which I have not been able
to think up a proper explaination.

On a partly cloudy day, one often sees DIVERGING
rays of sunshine, something like the Japanese flag
or the Arizona flag. I think these rays are
visible because of scattering in the atmosphere
and they appear to diverge from the sun. But for
most of their path rays of light coming from the
sun are in outerspace and are scattered very
little.

At first thought the solution is that the
sunlight passes through a hole in a more distant
cloud and is heavily scattered into a broad range
of angles. This scattered light then passes
through holes in nearer clouds to produce the
rays. The problem with this is the rays would
appear to diverge from the hole in the first cloud
rather than the sun.

Any thoughts.

Thanks
Roger Haar

--
Dr. Karl I. Trappe Desk (512) 471-4152
Lecture Demonstration Office Office (512) 471-5411
Physics Department, Mail Stop C-1600 Home (512) 264-1616
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78712-1081