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It was a brilliant and sunny day throughout April- May(can say, peak of summer season) in a rustic within the northern hemisphere, close to to the equator.
I used to be wandering(on foot) by means of this nation’s huge and open land – harsh desert – and within the night seen a wierd factor – the solar was setting within the East – for some time.
I’m fairly positive in regards to the instructions and I used to be not mistaken.
How was this potential / it may be defined?
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requested Aug 22, 2019 at 3:16
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Perhaps you might be witnessing the optical phenomenon generally known as:
Alpenglow or the Belt of Venus
A quick rationalization:
Alpenglow = ‘a reddish glow close to the horizon reverse of the Sun when the photo voltaic disk is just under the horizon’ (Wikipedia). Since the Sun has already gone beneath the horizon, this impact is led to by mild being mirrored off precipitation or ice crystals within the air. The impact is most notable in mountain areas, the place excessive mountains within the east are lit by the impact.
The Belt of Venus is a type of Alpenglow the place the shadow of the Earth from the setting Sun causes the band of reddish color to be separated from the horizon by a twilight-y darkness, giving it a extra arched form.
Since the author is within the desert, this might presumably be taking place within the Atlas mountain nations of North Africa.
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You had been within the
Nubian Desert in Sudan.
You had been navigating along with your compass and strolling east.
There are the stays of a meteorite that crashed there in 2008.
Fragments of it had been strewn throughout the desert because it broke up.
As sundown approached you walked previous a lump of it.
The magnetic materials of the meteorite affected your compass.
Suddenly, you realised you had been strolling in the direction of the solar!
But you realize that the solar can’t set within the east.
So you ignored the compass and continued strolling away from the solar.
After some time the compass needle moved again to the place it ought to be.
And so the solar set in its rightful place…
answered Aug 22, 2019 at 15:12
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Perhaps you
Passed by means of the Est Region in Burkina Faso at sundown.
Reasoning
When you say “the solar was setting in the East“, you might be referring to seeing the solar set in a spot known as the East. Given that it must be near a desert and close to the Equator, the Est Region (Est being the French for East) matches the invoice completely.
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I’m guessing you had been
On Venus, the place the solar all the time units within the East
answered Aug 22, 2019 at 13:16
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You are very near the North or South Pole, and near an equinox.
From close to the poles the solar seems to virtually describe a circle near the horizon, rising and falling barely relative to the horizon. Identify the path through which the solar is descending. You can than make that path ‘East’ by merely strolling across the pole till you at a 90 diploma angle of latitude relative to it.
For instance, as an example it is near an equinox and you might be standing on the (geographic) North Pole. You see the solar describe an almost-circle round you, rising and decreasing barely. You observe, for the sake of argument, that it crosses the horizon within the path of the Greenwich meridian. You could make the Greenwich meridian ‘East’ by merely strolling a couple of steps down the 90 diploma West meridian.
Hey Presto, the solar units within the East.
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This is one other chance, although most likely unsuitable, however I’m considering you had been:
behind a big pure arch of some type. The solar was truly rising to the east, however because it handed behind the arch, you would say that it was technically setting, relative to the panorama behind you. You did say “for some time”, that means that because it continued to rise previous the arch, it truly “rose” once more and continued its path throughout the sky. Had you stayed there all day, it will have set a second time, within the west as one would anticipate. I’ve illustrated how it will work right here: (going through east)
You may even have been:
in an eastward going through cave mouth, for a similar purpose.
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While unlikely, it is potential that you just noticed a mirage or comparable visible phenomenon – variations in air density meant that the dawn occurred sooner than anticipated, however because the Sun heated the air it additionally modified the airs refractive behaviour, inflicting its picture to set once more (albeit briefly).
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Because you might be positioned in
the “East” or the “Eastern World” an space historically comprising something east of Europe. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_world.
So wanting within the cardinal path West to look at the solar set it will seem to briefly set within the land of the “East”.
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Maybe
you could not see the solar set within the west as a result of it was blocked by a dune however you noticed the reflection within the east in a small pond/ lake/ the ocean?
answered Aug 22, 2019 at 14:38
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You had been merely
strolling in the direction of a tall hill. As you bought nearer to the bottom of the hill, the solar appeared to sink behind it.
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This is my second, completely different (however incorrect) reply, primarily based on an expertise in USA.
I had hitched a experience east and was mendacity at the back of station wagon, searching of the rear window. We had been motoring throughout a rolling panorama and the solar was getting decrease within the sky. Eventually because the highway went down right into a hole the solar dipped beneath the horizon. When we went again up the opposite aspect the solar rose once more (within the west). The scene repeated a number of occasions, till lastly the solar did not rise once more. That night I watched dawn a dozen occasions, however within the west!
Now think about strolling in the direction of the east. The solar rises within the east, and the trail makes a dip right into a hole. As I stroll down, the solar units within the east. A couple of minutes later the trail makes the slight climb out of the dip, the solar rises once more, and by now’s excessive sufficient that it doesn’t “set” once more.
The flaw on this resolution is that the query states “within the night”.
answered Aug 23, 2019 at 12:52
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Could it’s that…
Seeing the sundown within the East, will not be refering to the place of the solar, however quite the posistion of the occasion. If you had been at nice peak, you would possibly be capable of observe that within the East the solar is setting, it’s getting darkish and the bottom it taking a particular crimson hue. Whereas to the West it may be seen that the Earth remains to be having fun with afternoon daylight. In impact you’ll be able to see that the solar it setting within the East, and never but (for some time) within the West.
Such a view is perhaps believable from
a desert at nice altitude such because the Tibetan plateau.
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This is sort of definitely unsuitable.
You had been utilizing a compass to find out magnetic North, and decided “East” to be the path 90 levels clockwise of north, as East usually is.
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You had been strolling actually, actually quick in the direction of the west. Faster, in truth, than the rotational velocity of the Earth, so the Sun would seem like rising from the west, then setting within the east. Of course, strolling at this velocity is fairly tiring, stopping to relaxation places the Sun again on it is right path and setting once more within the west…
answered Aug 23, 2019 at 10:52
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Maybe this one :
At the place you had been, it was the night. But on the identical second, additional East, it was daybreak : the Sun was setting.
You may have rephrased your sentence as : “Where I stood, it was the night, however within the East, the Sun was already setting.”
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