Crepuscular Rays In Orleans County Sunrise

Written by: Jonathan Myers

Sent in by one of our viewers, this is a beautiful shot of a sunrise taken in Orleans County on Thursday morning. A bit above the horizon, you'll notice several rays of light extending from behind the low clouds. These rays are called crepuscular rays. By definition, these are diverging columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed areas. The rays are, in fact, near-parallel, but appear to diverge due to the eye's perspective. Crepuscular rays become visible when various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight. We see the light so defined because of diffraction (bending and interference), reflection, and scattering of the light.