SUNSET FANBURST OVER THE OCEAN

 SUNSET FANBURST OVER THE OCEAN

A blazing horizon… and the sky above it turns into a radial rainbow canopy, like light is being pulled into streaks across the clouds.

What you’re seeing is a mix of crepuscular rays and color diffraction/iridescence. When the Sun sits low, layers of clouds block parts of the sunlight, creating alternating bright beams and shadow lanes that appear to spread outward because of perspective. The extra bands of color can happen when sunlight interacts with very tiny water droplets or ice crystals in thin cloud edges, causing diffraction (light waves separating into colors).

When conditions line up at sunset, the warm sunlight boosts reds/oranges, and the rays become much more visible over the sea haze.