KEARNEY — Distant thunderstorms and the setting sun on Sunday, June 22 set the stage for an optical phenomenon to overspread central Nebraska during the sunset hour.
Crepuscular rays, sometimes colloquially referred to as god rays, are sunbeams that originate when the Sun appears to be just above or below a layer of clouds, during the twilight period.
Crepuscular rays are noticeable when the contrast between light and dark is most obvious. Crepuscular comes from the Latin word crepusculum, meaning “twilight”.
Crepuscular rays usually appear orange because the path through the atmosphere at dawn and dusk passes through up to 40 times as much air as rays from a high Sun at noon.
Particles in the air scatter short-wavelength light (blue and green) through Rayleigh scattering much more strongly than longer-wavelength yellow and red light.
