What’s happening over the horizon?
They call them anticrepuscular rays and the scene appears somehow supernatural.
To understand anticrepuscular rays, start by picturing common crepuscular rays that are seen any time that sunlight pours though scattered clouds.
Now although sunlight indeed travels along straight lines, the projections of these lines onto the spherical sky are great circles.
Therefore, the crepuscular rays from a setting (or rising) sun will appear to re-converge on the other side of the sky.
At the anti-solar point 180 degrees around from the Sun, they are referred to as anticrepuscular rays.
Featured here is a particularly striking display of anticrepuscular rays photographed on June 14, 2017 in Germany.
Mysterious sky phenomena
