Two strange suns suddenly appear in Chinese skies

An amazing event occuring over the Chinese skies has left scientists shocked and puzzled. Two brilliant suns suddenly appeared in the sky and some terrified Chinese screamed in horror.

Video image captured from live Chinese television coverage

One sun, the normal, bright cheerful one that warms the Earth and lights the countryside continued to slide towards the horizon as dusk approached. The other “sun” suddenly flared to life. That eerie interloper shone almost as brilliantly. As large as the original sun, the new sun differed mostly in color and definition. The imposter was tinted orange and appeared a bit fuzzy.

Stranger still, people witnessing the bizarre sight noticed the twin suns cast eerie double shadows.

Amateur photo of twin suns over China

Website Life’s Little Mysteries, as stumped as many others that saw the phenomena, sought out expert advice from Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer that debunked the viral story about the Orion constellation star Betelgeuse undergoing a supernova explosion and appearing as a second sun in the sky.

Kaler believes that the second sun that many saw over China was caused by atmospheric refraction. He admitted, however, that the phenomena is not fully understood.  

Twin suns just before sunset

After viewing a video taken of the phenomena, Kaler said: “I doubt it’s been computer modeled. There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage.”

A Chinese television report about the two suns can be seen here. The report starts 20 seconds into the incredible video.

Not completely satisfied with Kaler’s partial explanation, Mysteries sought out another expert, Grant Perry. An atmospheric scientist at the University of Wisconsin Cooperative Institute for Satellite and Meteorological Studies, Perry admitted that he too is mystified.

Phenomena not lens flare or ‘sun dogs’

“This is not a common optical phenomenon that we’re seeing here,” he explained. “I’m asking myself if this is an artifact of the lens, but if that were the case–if it’s reflections of the lens elements–then the images would move in relation to each other as the camera moves. But that doesn’t happen.”

If the peculiar incident was not caused by lens flare or any understood meteorological phenomena like “sun-dogs”–multiple images of the sun projected by refraction through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere–then what caused a second sun to appear?

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