Rays Over the Canary Islands

The last moments of the day over La Palma, a magnificent island in the Canaries, some 400 km off the coast of Africa. Strong appearance of Anticrepuscular rays make this panoramic view exceptional. From this vantage point at the top of island (a 2400m peak) the edge of Caldera de la Taburiente covers the foreground. The 10-km wide volcanic crater (with walls tower 2000m over the caldera floor) dominates the northern part of the island. The caldera originated some 2 million years ago with a massive shield volcano. The rays appear left to Tenerife island, marked by spectacular Teide volcano, still illuminated by the setting sun. Teide reaches over 3700m above the ocean. Two other of Canary Islands are also visible along the horizon: La Gomera near the middle, and El Hiero on the right (south). Anticrepuscular rays is an atmospheric phenomenon that form near the sunset or sunrise time. The rays are similar to crepuscular rays, but seen opposite the sun in the sky and usually fainter and often hard to detect. Although these rays appear to converge onto a point opposite the sun, the convergence is actually an illusion. The rays are in fact parallel, and the apparent convergence is to the vanishing point at infinity. Click on the second photo to see a closer enhanced view of the rays and the Teide volcano.