(Last Updated on December 17, 2015 by Editor)
ZIMBABWE – On December 11, 2015, Zimbabwe was still experiencing an intense heatwave with almost clear skies and very little rain. While the sun was setting behind a lone small cumulus cloud, a diffuse duplicate appeared above it in a thin veil of more distant high cloud.
This spectacle lasted for just over a minute before the second sun faded away.
The photo was taken between using a hand-held Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ60 compact camera in intelligent auto mode.
I asked Jim Foster of the Earth Science Picture of the Day what might have caused this phenomenon. He worked as a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for more than 37 years before retiring in 2014. He replied that a double sun is:
… only seen when the sun is low in the sky and likely a result of reflection by ice crystals.
The Earth Science Picture of the Day on Facebook also published this photo on December 14, 2015.
Bottom line: Apparently double sunset – likely due to reflection by ice crystals – seen in Zimbabwe on December 11, 2015.