Odd sun

[oddsun]

Hey wondering if anyone knows what I say.<br /><br />Just over a week ago I was in Kobe, Japan when I looked over and saw what I thought was a very odd moon.<br /><br /> It looked just like when the moon is full and very close, i.e big, round with very very clear borders I thought it was odd because its colour was a bright dark yellow as I was watching it it looked as though a veil was being lifted starting from the bottom it got really bright and the brightness went up all the way until it looked like a normal sun.<br /><br />I cant for the life of me figure out what it was. I searched the internet and couldn’t find an reference to any form of eclipse at the time, although from what I understand this seems to be the opposite in that there was nothing in front of it, it merely became visible to the naked eye.<br /><br /> I did consider the possibility that I imagined it however I know for a fact I was looking directly at the sun for prob 10+ sec before it became to bright so its pretty safe to say I would at the very least have had some form of short term visual damage after.<br /><br />I considered clouds as it was a slightly over cast day however a very large cloud passed over after that and I still couldn’t look at it as well as the fact that the border and detail was very clear not blury.<br /><br />Anyone have any idea what it was<br />

 

[rhodan]

Did it look something like this?

 

[najab]

><i>Just over a week ago I was in Kobe, Japan...</i><p>Which may explain it all. Quite often, in urban areas there is a layer of hot air trapped under a dome of colder air. This can cause quite weird optical effects, including a kind of 'lensing' which can do all sorts of strange things with the rising Sun. Making it appear lower in the sky than it is, or a different colour is not uncommon.<p>A few years ago, I was in Orlando and the rising Sun looked almost blood red, but the rest of the sky was blue. Once it got high enough in the sky, it turned back to its proper colour quite rapidly.</p></p>

 

[oddsun]

Did it look something like this?<br /><br />somewhat, in that it looked really clear and with clearly identifiable edges, though it was a dull yellow and bright (ish)<br /><br />Which may explain it all. Quite often, in urban areas there is a layer of hot air trapped under a dome of colder air. This can cause quite weird optical effects, including a kind of 'lensing' which can do all sorts of strange things with the rising Sun. Making it appear lower in the sky than it is, or a different colour is not uncommon.<br /><br />A few years ago, I was in Orlando and the rising Sun looked almost blood red, but the rest of the sky was blue. Once it got high enough in the sky, it turned back to its proper colour quite rapidly. <br /><br />it was going down (albiet a few hours away from dusk so it hadnt even started to get even slightly dark yet)When it changed to normal it looked like a filter was being lifted from the top but it was rapid 1-2 seconds for the entire "transformation" obviously a hell of a lot faster than it was setting or changing position in the sky<br /><br />

 

[najab]

Well, subsitute "setting" for "rising" and it sounds like what you observed.