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'Two suns' spotted in China defy explanation
MSNBC ^
| March 5, 2011
| Natalie Wolchover (Space.com)
Posted on 03/06/2011 1:10:41 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky a story that was later debunked two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other.
What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written books on the day and night sky. The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science.
"I doubt it's been computer modeled," he said. "There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage."
Mirages appear when particles in the atmosphere refract, or bend, light. This typically happens near the horizon, where air is thicker, though, and mirages are usually aligned vertically above or below the original source of the light not beside it, like in the video. It's possible, Kaler said, that an unusually thick patch of atmosphere wandered in front of the sun to create the unusual effect.
Previous sightings of horizontally-aligned double images of the sun and moon are recorded in a book called "Light and Color in the Outdoors" (English edition: Springer 1993) by the famous Flemish astronomer Marcel Minnaert, which remains the most complete reference on double suns. "So many other instances have been reported that there is no longer any doubt about ...
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
TOPICS: Astronomy; History; Outdoors; Science; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: china; doubleimage; mocksun; phenomenon; southeastasia; superstition; taiwan; twosuns
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Photoshop or actual astronomical event? Neither! Final scene from the movie "2010: The Year We Make Contact"
21
posted on
03/06/2011 1:56:38 PM PST
by
massmike
(DADT repeal: the Boy Scouts now have tougher membership requirements than the Army!)
To: FrogMom
I saw two suns once
teehee
22
posted on
03/06/2011 2:02:12 PM PST
by
bigheadfred
(THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
To: cripplecreek
Space.com is a hot mess. You can’t find anything on there.
23
posted on
03/06/2011 2:04:53 PM PST
by
SengirV
To: SengirV
Space.com is a hot mess. You cant find anything on there.
LOL Yeah I don't go to the site much anymore. Techies go overboard with the graphics.
24
posted on
03/06/2011 2:10:52 PM PST
by
cripplecreek
(Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Spotted about the time John Titor became resurrected in Internet surfdom. Everett-Wheeler lives again!
25
posted on
03/06/2011 2:14:21 PM PST
by
Cvengr
(Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
To: massmike
Google ‘sundog’. Tatooine this isn’t. We didn’t suddenly acquire a second G-2 type star. If so- where is it today? ANd a supernova wouldn’t be visible only in China.
Astronomical phenomenon, photoshop or too much opium.
26
posted on
03/06/2011 2:17:45 PM PST
by
ClearBlueSky
(Whenever someone says it's not about Islam-it's about Islam. Jesus loves you, Allah wants you dead!)
To: the invisib1e hand; cripplecreek
Whoa.
27
posted on
03/06/2011 2:19:49 PM PST
by
bigheadfred
(THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
To: bigheadfred
28
posted on
03/06/2011 2:28:29 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(Every knife in my back pushes me forward.)
To: bigheadfred
29
posted on
03/06/2011 2:35:51 PM PST
by
the invisib1e hand
(Every knife in my back pushes me forward.)
To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Maybe it was a temporal anomaly.
30
posted on
03/06/2011 2:46:07 PM PST
by
Repeal 16-17
(Let me know when the Shooting starts.)
To: the invisib1e hand
A double post over seven minutes apart.
No, I don’t want to know...
31
posted on
03/06/2011 2:54:14 PM PST
by
bigheadfred
(THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
To: GeronL
That star might explode..... sometime in the next few million years
Or has already exploded sometime within the past 640 years (or 180 or 1,300) and the light of that explosion has just not arrived.
32
posted on
03/06/2011 3:11:15 PM PST
by
aruanan
To: bigheadfred
that was the other hand typing
33
posted on
03/06/2011 3:13:37 PM PST
by
kaboom
To: massmike
wow...looks like a miracle to me...
34
posted on
03/06/2011 3:15:42 PM PST
by
fabian
(" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo in laughter")
To: kaboom
OMG, they’re synchronizing parallel worlds! For God’s sakes, don’t touch anything,....it might be antimatter!
35
posted on
03/06/2011 3:17:16 PM PST
by
Cvengr
(Adversity in life and death is inevitable. Thru faith in Christ, stress is optional.)
To: bigheadfred
oh my gosh...what has gotten into you?
36
posted on
03/06/2011 3:18:02 PM PST
by
fabian
(" And a new day will dawn for those who stand long, and the forests will echo in laughter")
To: aruanan
37
posted on
03/06/2011 3:24:12 PM PST
by
GeronL
(The Right to Life came before the Right to Happiness)
To: fabian; cripplecreek; The Invisible Hand; kaboom
oh my gosh...what has gotten into you?--fabianIm going to pretend theyre boobs and live forever--Cripplecreek
Now were talking--the invisible hand
that was the other hand typing--kaboom
And you're worried about ME??? LOL
38
posted on
03/06/2011 3:38:25 PM PST
by
bigheadfred
(THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE HAS BEGUN)
To: massmike
DANG! I forgot about that!
To: Repeal 16-17
Or Han Solo just jumped out of hyperspace.
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