Source: 海那个角 on Weibo & Chinese Learning, for illustration purposes only
Residents of Chengdu, China, were in for a shock on the evening of 18 Aug when they looked up to see not one, but seven suns hanging in the sky.
This bizarre phenomenon was caught on video and quickly shared on Weibo, where it sparked plenty of buzz.
In the clip, multiple suns appear to line up on a slight diagonal, casting an orange glow across the clouds.
Source: 海那个角 on Weibo
The brightest of these ‘suns’ was likely the real one, with the others fading in brightness the further they were from the centre.
According to Sin Chew Daily, this unusual sighting only lasted about a minute, leaving the person filming in complete awe.
As for an explanation for the sun’s bizarre duplication, some attributed it to a phenomenon called a parhelion.
This is also known as a sun dog — even though it has nothing to do with canines.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
These effects are typically caused by sunlight refracting through ice crystals in Earth’s atmosphere, creating the illusion of multiple suns alongside the real one.
Alternatively, the vice president of the Sichuan Society for Amateur Astronomy suggested that the sighting might have been an optical illusion resulting from light refracting through layered glass.
Each layer of glass could produce additional illusory images, or even several, depending on the viewing angle.
This isn’t the first time such a phenomenon has been observed.
Last year, a similar sighting of multiple suns was photographed in Qinghai.
Source: 风云梦远 on Weibo
The video amused Chinese netizens, who joked that it was time to summon legendary archer Hou Yi to deal with the situation.
In Chinese mythology, there were once 10 suns that took turns crossing the sky each day.
One day, they decided to play a prank by appearing all at once, scorching the Earth.
Hou Yi then shot down nine of the suns with his arrows, leaving just one to manage all the daily shifts alone.
Source: Chinese Learning
The Jade Emperor, the father of those suns, then banished Hou Yi and his wife, Chang’e, from Heaven and turned them into mortals.
Commenters also humorously suggested that the appearance of seven suns might explain the recent scorching temperatures.
Source: Weibo
Sichuan recently saw temperatures reach 37.2 degrees Celsius, with forecasts predicting highs above 40 degrees.
Also read: Massive Sun ‘Halo’ Graces S’pore Skies On 22 Sep, Protect Your Eyes When Looking Up
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Featured image adapted from 海那个角 on Weibo and Chinese Learning.
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