© Claudia Hinz
Lukla, Solukhumbu District, Nepal
Latitude: 27° 41' 16'' N
Longitude: 86° 43' 53'' E
01 November 1999 0600 (Local Time)
Image P/S code: P.13.11.4
Image I.D.: 4099
Sometimes dark bluish streaks and light beams are observed radiating from the Sun across the twilight sky. These are crepuscular rays.
In this photograph from Lukla in Nepal, crepuscular rays appear to radiate across the twilight sky from the Sun, hidden behind the Himalayan peaks of Kangtega (6 783 m) and Thamserku (6 623 m). The darker streaks are the shadows of distant clouds or mountains, while the sunbeams shine through gaps in distant clouds or between mountain peaks. The rays are in fact parallel, and their apparent convergence is an effect of perspective in the same way that railway lines seem to converge at a point in the distance.
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