Photo enthusiast captures stunning crepuscular rays from Toledo City

Photo courtesy of Vangie Repoylo

MOALBOAL, CEBU —Once again, being in the right place at the right time paid off for a netizen.

Vangie Repoylo was loitering outside her house in Toledo City, Cebu when an atmospheric phenomenon caught her attention.

Captivated with the scene, the 26-year-old Repoylo grabbed her smartphone and took some photos of the stunning rays made by the sunset on Wednesday, May 27, 2020.

She then decided to upload her photos online to let the people “witness [the sunset’s] beauty.’

And netizens did appreciate the beauty alright. As of 12:24 p.m. Thursday, May 28, 2020, Repoylo’s post has been shared 2,214 times already.

“I am very fond of taking pictures sa sunset samot na nag ECQ since puyo ras balay. The view really amazes me,” the public school teacher said.

(I am very fond of taking pictures of sunset, especially during the quarantine because I only stay here in the house. The view really amazes me.)

Her photo is one of many sunset photos featured by CDN Digital during this health crisis brought about by the coronavirus disease 2019.

Read: Here’s another beautiful sunset captured by netizen from Lapu-Lapu

Others featured include  one taken from Maryhills, Barangay Antipolo, Medellin last May 14, 2020,  one taken by a netizen from Dumaguete on May 16, and  one taken by a photographer from Dipolog City, which was shared on May 16.

Sign of hope

Just like others who captured stunning photos of the sunset, Repolyo said that looking at her photos gives her a “feeling of hope” amid the health crisis.

Jhomar Eclarino, weather specialist of the Mactan bureau of the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said that the astmospheric phenomenon witnessed by Repoylo is actually called as crepuscular rays.

Crepuscular rays are shafts of light which are seen during sunset and which extend over the western sky radiating from the position of the sun below the horizon.

“Ang clouds di man tibuok nga bulto diba naay na block, mao nay gitawag nato nga shadow mao nang naporma siya nga rays. Pwedi mani siya mahitabo anytime as long as ma-meet niya ang criteria sa atmosphere,” he said.

(There are clouds who block [the light], and we call that as shadow, that’s why it created a sort of rays. It can be happen anytime as long as it meets the criteria in the atmosphere.) /bmjo