Fingers of God
Taken Wed PM in Gibson County
Crepuscular rays
, in atmospheric optics, also known as sun rays, God’s rays, Jesus beams, or the Fingers of God, are rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds or between other objects, are diverging columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. The name comes from their frequent occurrences during crepuscular hours (those being dawn and dusk), when the contrasts between light and dark are the most obvious. Various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight and make these rays visible, due to diffraction, reflection, and scattering.
Crepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to diverge because of linear perspective. They often occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the sun’s rays like a cloud cover. There are three primary forms of crepuscular rays:
- Rays of light penetrating holes in low clouds (also called “Jacob’s Ladder“).
- Beams of light diverging from behind a cloud.
- Pale, pinkish or reddish rays that radiate from below the horizon. These are often mistaken for light pillars.
- Wikipedia
Great shot, Eddie! Did you take this or was it sent in by a “viewer”? Also excellent explanation you found on Wikipedia for these rays. Heat index maxed out at 119 today. Temp hanging around 100 all afternoon. Stay cool!
Thank you very much took that on the way to church WITH MY CELL PHONE! Growing up the old timers talked about the sun “drawing up the water” so that it would rain in a day or two. So had to include it. My HX peaked at 115 with peak Td at 80.5º just before noon. Thanks for the comment!