Sunrise And Sunsets: It's Complicated

Light Refraction Earth Illusion Perspective Time Optics

Physics Science Astronomy Earth-science

1 month ago 25,305 views 0 shares

Sunrise And Sunsets: It's Complicated

physics-memes, astronomy-memes, light-memes, refraction-memes, earth-memes | ScienceHumor.io

That moment when you realize the sun is playing mind games with us! What we call "sunrise" is actually a triple illusion. First, we see it 2 minutes before it's actually there thanks to atmospheric refraction bending light around our curved planet. Second, the "actual sunrise" happened 8 whole minutes ago because light takes its sweet time traveling from the sun. Third, the sun doesn't even "rise" - we're the ones spinning! The entire concept of sunrise is just our tiny human brains trying to make sense of cosmic mechanics while standing on a rotating space rock. Next time someone invites you to watch the sunrise, hit them with "which one?" and enjoy the confusion.

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