It is
shocking to look at those pictures of Earth, taken from space, and realize that
our atmosphere is just an extremelly thin layer on top of the huge ball of rock
(solid outside, molten inside). The diameter of Earth is more than 12 thousand
kilometers, right? So, the atmosphere is only, being generous, 100 km thick (less than 1%),
and most of the air is in the lower say 20 km or less. That is very little air…
and still that's crucial for our survival, and for all the biosphere of the
planet. In that air we all breathe, yes, but also in that small amount of air
is were we dump all our gaseous garbage, planes fly, and where most of the
water cycle takes place, where winds, storms develop, clouds grow, sunsets and
sunrises get red or pink.
Yes,
the atmosphere is precious, essential for our species. And, on top of that, it
gives us amazing shows from time to time. From my place, I'm gifted with a nice
sunset every evening
Recently
I had the opportunity of watching and enjoying two beautiful sunsets from other
places. One of them still in Cambrils, from the beach. Suddenly, a rather boring
afternoon converged in a slow burst of western fire, as the sun hid behind some casual
clouds… looked like the mountains to the south were burning, or exploding, or a
volcano had popped up somewhere in Tivissa… I took several pictures, otherwise
I would be applauding the show. By the way I heard this expression for the
first time many years ago from a radio station in
Houston, TX, while I was driving to work… they mentioned the fantastic sunrise
and jokingly (or not!?) said that drivers were stopping on the side of the
highway to watch the sunrise and cheer and applaud… I thought it was touching
and exciting… for a change someone was looking at the sky above.
The
second was a sunset in Jávea, Alicante province. Scattered clouds, light
showers, and suddenly a piece of rainbow over the sea, cloud tops illuminated
by the low sun. That wet and golden light.
Then I thought it was over, the sun
had set at the opposite side of the sea, when I realized that very dim, there
where some light rays that appeared to converge at exactly the opposite side of
the sunset… I looked twice, my wife also saw them, so they were real… I
remembered, deep in my almost erased memory circuits, having read something
about these rays. Later, I checked and
indeed they are well known and not rare, if you look at the right place and
time. They are called anti-crepuscular rays, and are actually parallel, but
perspective from the observer makes them look like convergent. Not easy to see
in the picture below, but that's what I got.
The
atmosphere gives us many, many moments of beauty, never the same, always
amazing… up to us to enjoy them. It is still for free… Like this bonus sunrise I took in February.
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