Blinded By Assumption

Today marked the first time since my accident that I'd been into the office on three consecutive days. It's strange to have to describe how hard this has been and how much it seems to take out of me. I can walk or cycle all day without a problem, yet a few hours of hard thought at the computer wipes me out. It was a beautiful day for September and although I had a few photos from Market Square already in the can, it was a sign of my state of mind that I went out for a late walk on the moor without my camera. 

As I approached the cairn the overcast skies started to clear, giving an opportunity for the sun to work some magic. I turned around to walk back and witnessed something very strange happening in the eastern sky. There were crepuscular rays emanating from a point directly opposite the setting sun, which was hidden behind quite thick cloud. I stood watching for ages trying to work it out but it made no sense to me. I couldn't fathom out how the rays could be converging back towards a point. Such coherence seemed like an impossibility. I walked on and soon met a couple of mountain bikers who had been similarly stopped in their tracks by the same thing, equally stumped as to an explanation. I couldn't believe I was without my camera to record the event.

As I turned again to walk down the road from the Cow and Calf I was greeted with the sight you see here. I was once more cursing not having my camera with me. Fortunately, the display persisted long enough for me to get home and take this from the window. I have a bit of a grandstand view! I then put the TV on to catch up with the score from the cricket, realised it was from Headingley in Leeds, saw the floodlights blazing away, and immediately convinced myself that there was the source of the light effects in the sky. Who would have thought it?

With the help of some discussion on FB the following day when a friend posted pretty much the same shot as this, and with perhaps a clearer head (although that's debatable), I discovered that what I had actually witnessed were anti-crepuscular or anti-solar rays. The key to my confusion was the appearance of convergence. It's an understandable assumption because I'm sure that almost everyone else would have assumed the same thing. All crepuscular rays are, of course, effectively parallel. It's a trick of perspective that makes us think of them as divergent, or convergent. I feel like a complete idiot now for not appreciating that at the time. The lines of colour you see in this shot all run parallel with each other. What was so unusual this evening was to be able to see them appearing to converge back again towards the opposite horizon. So, next time you are looking out at the sunset with some cloud around, don't forget to turn around and see what's happening behind you! And always be wary of making blind assumptions!!