Millennial Mysteries: Two Suns Set in China

Image Source: CTV via MSNBC.

A Chinese report has gone viral on the Web regarding a mirage or hoax that made it appear as though two Suns set in China on March 2.  See a report at ABC here and a video here.  From MSNBC:

Weeks after a story shot across the Web claiming that the imminent explosion of a nearby star would result in the appearance of a second sun in the sky — a story that was later debunked — two suns were caught on camera yesterday in China. The suns — one fuzzy and orange, the other a crisp yellow orb — appeared side-by-side, one slightly higher than the other.

What's going on? Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Space.com, asked Jim Kaler, the University of Illinois astronomer who squelched the excitement over the aforementioned exploding Betelgeuse and who has written books on the day and night sky. The double sun image is an effect of optical refraction, Kaler said, but it's a "pretty darn rare" one, and one not fully explained by science.

"I doubt it's been computer modeled," he said. "There must have been some blob of atmosphere somewhere that caused this truly spectacular phenomenon, which in a sense is a mirage."

On Facebook, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory contributor appears amused by all the attention the Sun is getting this week: "this had nothing to do with solar events on the Sun. But still pretty cool image. Very Star-Warsy!"  Other astronomers have dismissed the report as a hoax.  Doppelgänger - you just can't get away from them these days.  Below the jump, the Star Wars clip.

Star Wars clip (1977; 20th Century Fox). Image Source: Youtube.