Fictitious Sun

Fictitious Sun

Slowly, the Lauragais plain (Lauragués in Occitan) located at the edge of the Pyrenean Massif and of the Montagne Noire, emerges from a particularly long and harsh winter. The duration of the day increases, a bright light now floods the daytime sky, while some nebulosity disperse into long filaments under the effect of the Cers or the Autan wind. These are as many signs of the forthcoming spring ... Then the Sun disappears below the horizon : gradually, the relief becomes dark, the sky is obscured, being tinged with red-orange glow. The ambient temperature falls. Suddenly appears a glowing disk in any point similar to the Sun, although less bright. Is this a simple optical illusion or a real physical phenomenon? This photometeor, literally « light in the air », actually results from the reflection of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere. Proof that the winter is not yet completely finished ...