On the afternoon of March 11, the image resembling “two suns” appearing simultaneously in the sky over West Lake (Hanoi) was shared widely, causing excitement among many regarding this rare and unusual phenomenon.
In a discussion with a reporter about the “two suns” image, a leader from the National Center for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting commented that “this is a rare phenomenon” if the reported image is accurate. However, he stated that a thorough investigation is needed to provide an accurate assessment of this phenomenon.
The sight of “two suns” simultaneously appearing in the sky over Hanoi – (photo: Fb Châu Vũ).
Mr. Đặng Vũ Tuấn Sơn, President of the Vietnam Astronomical and Cosmology Association (VACA), evaluated the “two suns” phenomenon in the aforementioned image as a rare occurrence, resulting from the coincidence in the process of scattering and reflecting sunlight.
The expert explained that under certain suitable conditions, when the sky is cloudy, sunlight interacts with water droplets and ice crystals, reflecting nearly entirely to form images of the sun, similar to when it casts a shadow on a lake’s surface.
“This reflected image continues to reflect again when encountering another layer of clouds, with only a part being scattered. Therefore, this second reflection creates an image that can be seen from the ground, resembling a second sun,” said expert Đặng Vũ Tuấn Sơn.
Back in July 2023, many social media users also shared the “two suns” phenomenon that appeared among the clouds simultaneously in Sichuan (China), which garnered significant attention from the online community. At that time, in response to the media, expert Đặng Vũ Tuấn Sơn explained that this was a very rare phenomenon, but it was evidently just a purely optical phenomenon.
