Garments of the Gods

At sunrise, Boca Ciega Bay, FL

I have many times stood on a beach and watched the sunset. Or on the way to work, driven down the long, winding road at the park on Boca Ciega Bay, and stood on the sea wall to watch the sunrise.

These days, as I watch the sun settle below, or break above, the horizon, I look behind me as well. Sometimes the show there is just as fascinating as the one facing the sun.

The ancient Greeks called it the Belt of Venus. You can see it, in a clear sky, with the sun just below the horizon. In fact, it is the earth’s shadow and the atmosphere just above it. The Belt of Venus looks like a long, dark cloud stretching from the northern horizon to the southern horizon, topped by a band of pink. The dark is the shadow, the pink, the belt itself, is the atmosphere colored by the sun. It only lasts 10-15 minutes before it either sinks below the horizon as the sun rises, or looses clarity as it spreads across the whole sky at sunset.

The first few times I saw it, I didn’t recognize it for what it was. After I’d seen my first picture of it, I started looking for it. Now I see it all the time. Getting a picture of it is tough. You need a clear broad view of the horizon, a nearly clear sky, and perhaps a little post processing to bring out the color.

We go through so much of our day not noticing the world around us. I sometimes feel disconnected from nature and the world, wrapped in the technology of modern life. So at those times when I can stop, look around me and see the larger picture, I am grateful. I need that time to reconnect and feel part of the larger the world. For me, it is thrilling look into the sky, to see our own shadow, however briefly, and know what it is. To stand beneath a vast clear sky and see the Garments of the Gods.

At sunset, Banner Elk, NC