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caflowerluver

Aliens have landed!

caflowerluver
18 years ago

Now that I have your attention. Actually it's this morning's sunrise. After days of gloom and rain, it was nice to see the sun. I love the way the rays shoot through the trees.

{{gwi:64641}}

Comments (21)

  • GAAlan
    18 years ago

    WOW!! Outstanding! That is a great title for it, as the rays do look like lights from the mother ship!

  • Joyce
    18 years ago

    No words will do...
    Except AWESOME!

  • kal2769
    18 years ago

    Praise God for his creativity. The Master painter has done it again. Great picture.

  • jeff_al
    18 years ago

    that's beautiful!

  • caflowerluver
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks everyone for your compliments.

  • bultman
    18 years ago

    That's a one-in-a-million shot - wow!

    Bernadette

  • jaceysgranny
    18 years ago

    Awesome halo! It's a glorious shot!

    Nancy

  • rosemariero
    18 years ago

    Wonderful, gorgeous shot!

    ~Rosemarie

  • Nushka_IA
    18 years ago

    That is astonishing!

  • clairabelle
    18 years ago

    Too cool for words! Thank u for making my day! (sigh 'n smile)

  • caflowerluver
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    You all have been so kind. I am glad I could share this shot and that so many have enjoyed it. I have lived here for almost 20 years and this is the first time I saw the sun like this. Thanks again.

  • Missy_GardenWhimsy
    18 years ago

    A truly awesome picture! How very beautiful...just stunning! Thank you for sharing this with us. Missy

  • mistercross
    18 years ago

    I've wondered for years what causes this effect. The sun is over 90 million miles away, so all rays should appear completely parallel, but I've never seen parallel rays in real life or in photos. From the angle of the rays in your photo the sun appears to be 30 feet behind the trees.

    I could guess that reflection from clouds or objects caused the sun ray effect, but once I saw such an effect coming down through trees, and there were no clouds or objects, although there was a light morning fog.

    This is not the type of optical illusion, like a rainbow. If you move, an apparent rainbow moves with you. You can experiment with spray, as from a garden hose, to look at rainbows. Natural rainbows are actually complete circles, but half is obscured by the ground. You can also see white circles around streetlights through foggy windshields.

    But the sunray effect is not an illusion. It does not move with you. As you move it continues from the same point, and strikes the same point on the ground.

    Maybe it really is the sun lensing through an invisible alien ship.

    The angle of the rays is absolutely impossible after all.

  • caflowerluver
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    mistercross - What an interesting observation. I learned something new. Thanks.

  • springa7
    18 years ago

    "I've wondered for years what causes this effect. The sun is over 90 million miles away, so all rays should appear completely parallel, but I've never seen parallel rays in real life or in photos. From the angle of the rays in your photo the sun appears to be 30 feet behind the trees."

    I think that the rays are parallel, but they don't look parallel to the eye (or the camera) because some parts of the rays are much closer to the viewer than others, and look wider. It's the same reason that a road of uniform width seems to get narrower and narrower and its sides converge as one looks further and further away, even though the sides are actually parallel.

    Keep in mind that although some of the rays appear to be going almost straight up from the tree, they are actually pointing at an angle toward the viewer. The closer they get, the wider they appear.

  • Garden_Momma
    18 years ago

    Awesome, and very beautiful, Aptos!

  • Bren2
    18 years ago

    Absolutely stunning!

  • SFBayArea_CA
    18 years ago

    the effect might have been magnified by the wide angle lens used.

  • mistercross
    18 years ago

    Springa7's explanation seems to be the standard theory. Bad Astronomy explains it that way. And here are some pictures with the explanation.

    I don't know. It still might be aliens.

  • caflowerluver
    Original Author
    18 years ago

    Thanks again everyone! No wide angle lens used, just the one that comes with the Nikon Coolpix 8800. And it was in standard automatic mode.

  • mira_dunham
    18 years ago

    you may have inspired me to get up before nine :)

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