This astronaut photograph from the <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/International_Space_Station" title="International Space Station">International Space Station</a> provides an unusual viewing perspective from above some crepuscular rays and a clear illustration of their parallel nature. The <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Sun" title="Sun">sun</a> was setting to the west (image left) on the Indian subcontinent, and <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cumulonimbus" title="Cumulonimbus">cumulonimbus</a> cloud towers provided the shadowing obstructions. The rays are being projected onto a layer of <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Haze" title="Haze">haze</a> below the clouds.
ISS Expedition 29 crew
2011-10-18
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76261">NASA Earth Observatory</a>