Crepuscular Rays
Crepuscular Rays - Jacob's ladder, or light scattering through broken clouds?
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Myths and legends accounting for atmospheric effects exist right next to scientific explanations about light, optics and meteorological physics.The weather forecast on this day was for stormy conditions with wind, and the sky was darkening as moisture-rich clouds were pulling together and obscuring the late-afternoon sunshine. Somehow it's more reassuring to look at the sky and think that the sun's rays are reaching to touch the ground and making a connection between earth and the heavens.
5 comments:
Is that really what crepuscular means???!!! That magical moment of sky conditions always makes me think of religious imagery.... You have captured it here in such a lively way.
"Crepuscular" is a word I always used to associate with Dracula and horror stories - until I looked it up and found it means "twilight" and thus, the dark on either side of dawn or dusk. And the technical term really is "crepuscular rays." Other names for this phenomenon include "Buddha's Fingers" and what my grandfather used to call "the Sun Drawing Water."
Although I totally see the reference, to me Buddha's fingers or hand is a citrus fruit.
Was your grandfather an artist too?
To me Buddha's fingers or hand is a citrusy fruit. But I totally see the reference.
Was your grandfather an artist too?
from dictionary.sensagent.com
Alternative names:
Sunbeams
Sunburst
Sun rays
Sun drawing water - from the ancient Greek belief that sunbeams drew water into the sky (an early description of evaporation)
Backstays of the sun - a nautical term, from the fact that backstays that brace the mast of a sailing ship converge in a similar way
Ropes of Maui - (originally. taura a Maui) from the Maori tale of Maui Potiki restraining the sun with ropes to make the days longer
Jacob's Ladder
Gateways to Heaven, Stairways to Heaven and Paths to Heaven[citation needed]
God Rays, Fingers of God (or God's Fingers), so called because they appear often in the background on religious pictures.
Jesus Beams, Beams of Jesus, or Jesus Rays
Cloud breaks
Volumetric lighting (used by the computer graphics industry)
Buddha's Rays
Divine Light
Shafts of Light
Sorry, my mistake: it's Buddha's Rays or Jesus Rays or God's Fingers. And one of these days I will get to try Buddha's Fingers for myself! :)
To answer your question, my paternal grandfather was a sea-going fisherman when he was a teenager and he was very skilled at reading weather signs.
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