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Peter Lowenstein
Mutare, Zimbabwe
03/25/2023
06:15 pm

Equipment Details:

Hand-held Pansonic Lumix DMC-ZS40 in sunset mode.

Post-processing Details:

Two merged photographs taken less than a minute apart.

Image Details:

Volcanic Sunset with Spectacular Crepuscular Rays.
On the evening of Saturday 25th, there was an unusually intense volcanic sunset display with a twilight arch which became brighter and more colourful between 6.04 and 6.13 pm (about half an hour after sundown). Radiating crepuscular rays then developed which peaked at 6.15 pm and receded towards the horizon a few minutes later. This was accompanied by Venus with the 4-day old Waning Crescent Moon above approaching from the right. There must have been a transient high concentration of stratospheric volcanic aerosols derived from the January 2022 Hunga-Tonga eruption lingering to the west of Mutare to produce such a spectacular post-sunset display.

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