Gorgeous, Freaky Sunset Photo Looks Split Down the Middle

[Judi Lynn]

Last edited Fri Jul 19, 2019, 02:21 AM - Edit history (3)

By Mindy Weisberger, Senior Writer | July 18, 2019 11:37am ET



The spectacular colors of this sunset cover only half the sky. A large, distant cloud below the horizon shadows the other half.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Uma Gopalakrishnan

A recent sunset photo stunned viewers on social media. An unusual optical effect made the sunset resemble a split-screen image showing two very different skies side by side.

On the photo's right side is a horizon saturated with hues of red and yellow. But on the left side, the sky is darker and drabber. Uma Gopalakrishnan captured the photo in Charlotte, North Carolina, on July 13 at 8:55 p.m. local time, sharing the unaltered pictures and video on Instagram and Twitter.

Though it looks unnatural, the so-called split sunset wasn't created with filters or Photoshop. Rather, it was caused by the shadow of a large cloud below the horizon that prevented sunlight from striking the clouds that were closer to viewers on the ground. [Image Gallery: Sunrise and Sunsets]

"I had never seen something like this before. And I couldn't believe it when I did see it that night!" Gopalakrishnan told Live Science in an email.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/65971-split-sunset-photo.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That is truly beautiful and quite remarkable!

I would bet that any ancient peoples, seeing something like this, would think that their god/s had caused it as a message of some sort.

It would be either awfully scary or a good omen.

Thank you for sharing it with us more or less rational humans!

[Make7]

2. Direct image address:

http://www.livescience.com/images/i/000/106/515/original/split-sunset-photo-01.jpg

(If you want to edit your OP to display the picture.)

At first glance, that looks photoshopped - but the "split" is not a straight line. I'd almost like to have seen it in person just to be certain.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Thanks, so much for providing a workable link for that image.

Have no idea how you managed to find it, as the only one I could locate was useless until clicking another link.

Very kind, much appreciated.

[Make7]

5. The actual image link is encoded in the clickable link you posted.

https://img.purch.com/h/1400/
aHR0cDovL3d3dy5saXZlc2NpZW5jZ
S5jb20vaW1hZ2VzL2kvMDAwLzEwN
i81MTUvb3JpZ2luYWwvc3BsaXQtc3
Vuc2V0LXBob3RvLTAxLmpwZw==

The characters after the last forward slash in that address are the text of the image link encoded in Base64. If you copy that into an online decoder...

https://www.base64decode.org/

... the result is the image address I posted.

The Base64 encoding scheme often uses one or two equals signs for padding at the end of the text, so sometimes it can be easy to spot. It also uses mainly just alphanumeric characters with an occasional +, -, /, or _. And if the first four characters are 'aHR0', that will decode to 'htt' - so it's a pretty good bet that it's a web address.

[Judi Lynn]

7. Amazing. I'm saving your post for future reference. Had no idea. Thank you.

[Tech]

4. Had the same type of sunset in northern WI this week.

Husband took pics, but I do not know how to transfer here using my kindle. It was very eerie, had never seen sunsets like that. It happened in 2 different nights.

[Judi Lynn]

8. It would definitely be startling, so unsettling. Spooky! Large! Hard to dismiss. Thanks. n/t

[SamKnause]

6. I have seen this in Ohio, but the split was horizontal not vertical.

It doesn't seem real even when you are looking at it, but you know that it is, because you are seeing

it happen with your own eyes.

[Judi Lynn]

9. Horizontal would seem overwhelming, also. So hard to reconcile.

It would seem a natural reaction to jump to extreme explanations in the face of something so unnatural.

Not hard at all to understand early human beings being very frightened by things like that.

Thanks, SamKnause.

[SamKnause]

10. You are welcome Judi Lynn.

[SCantiGOP]

11. I've seen similar

But nothing this distinct.