A surreal spectacle was witnessed in the sky over Chengdu, China and captured on video on August 20, 2024. In the viral images posted online, what appears to be seven suns can be seen.
Footage of the mysterious celestial phenomenon was shot by a woman identified as Ms Wang in a Chengdu hospital by Jam Press. So, what is behind the mind-boggling spectacle?
The astronomical anomaly, which lasted only about a minute, can be easily explained away as an optical illusion. It was caused by the light from the sun refracting as it passed through the multiple panes of glass in the 11th floor hospital window.
Only one of the suns is our own solar system’s star. The other six are merely copies or virtual images produced by the light bouncing between the layers of glass in the window.
While there are reports which claim that it was seen from several angles, netizens commenting on the otherworldly sight pointed out that there is only one video that captured the phenomenon. Had it been visible to the rest of the city rightly said that there would be multiple videos and pictures of the seven suns over Chengdu which has a population of over 16 million.
No matter the logical explanation people on social media had fun coming up with their own ideas of what was behind the celestial phenomenon.
“We’ve finally uncovered the truth about global warming”, quipped one amateur astronomer on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
“This happened because of a magnetic field glitch that made parallel universes visibly manifest”, joked another space cadet. “The Cosmic Bureau has fixed the issue, and those responsible have been reprimanded”.
The heliospheric heptathlon also blew up on Reddit, where users compared the phenomenon to the Chinese myth where cosmic archer Hou Yi (εηΎΏ) shoots down nine of Earth’s 10 suns to stop the planet from burning up.
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