Unusual Sardinian sunset

I was on holiday in Sardinia in September 2008 and noticed this unusual sunset. I wondered if anybody on these boards has ever seen one anywhere. The house is on the North West coast (Lat. 41.055 and Long. 8.953) and the image was taken with a Canon 400D on 3rd Sept 2008 at 19:18:22 local time. I used these co-ordinates/time with Starry Night Pro and it suggested that the Sun’s setting position was directly behind the Pyrenees. I guessed that the conical beam of blue light, in the almost vertical, 12 o’clock position was caused by a very high peak in the Pyrenees. However, there is another beam in about the 2o’clock direction and I cannot quite figure out how a similar beam could be generated in a very different direction at the same time.
I have stayed at this house several times in the last few years, but never as late as early Sept., and have never witnessed these phenomena before. When I spotted it I was too busy thinking ‘that’s odd’ and ’looking for the camera’ that I did not think to record how long it lasted. Any ideas?
farm4.static.flickr.com/3451/3196709595_15255198ef_b.jpg

Hi Conn,

Interesting image!

The beams appear to radiate from one point - the Sun. My guess is that the mountains, or low lying clouds, are blocking the rays of the Sun and forming crepuscular rays. In this case, rather than the rays appearing to radiate from a point high in the sky, the are radiating from a point/location below the horizon.

I ran the location, date and time into Google Earth and it indicates that the Sun was setting behind the tip of Sardinia at Isola Asinara. This is approx 33 miles from your location.

Michael.

Below is an image from Google Earth showing the setting Sun.
In the distance, you can see the outline of the peninsula.

www.astroshot.com/Solar/Conn-Sunset.jpg

Michael.

Hi Conn,
The dark beams do indeed look like something is casting a shadow, maybe a ship or an island ?
Nice image.

Hi Conn.

Putting all the info into Google Earth & Starry Night
my best guess is that the two distinct shadows are being cast from the
two high ranges on the Pyrnees.

www.frankryanjr.com/pyrenees.jpg

Although the peaks are relevantly close the fact that the
light source (the sun) is so far away (and your perspective is
adding to this) makes them angle out so greatly.

This can be explained in art as the shadow vanishing point
(if you imagine the first 3 lines this girl draws in this
video as the lines of shadow cast by the tip of the mountain range,
obviously it's in reverse but the principle is the same.
Your light source is also behind (the object) but from below
and your vanishing point is directly behind you.)
video.google.com/videosearch?hl=en&q=sha...p&resnum=4&ct=title#

www.frankryanjr.com/pyrenees2.jpg

Also, shadow vanishing points and perspective are
some of the fundamental ways to disprove the conspiracy theorists
when they sight the fact that in the Apollo landing photos,
different objects cast shadows in different directions and that this could not
be possible with one light source.
Not so,
this short clip explains that and
also shows that two objects near each other can
cast shadows in totally different directions.
video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1998149...ws+perspective&hl=en

Hope this helps!

Do you realise how far away they are from that location? They are approx 350 miles away! That's a staggering distance!

Michael.