Mystery solved! Strange blue beams spotted in the sky

A 3AW Mornings listener noticed an unusual sight in the sky this morning.

Three blue streaks were visible in the sky in the east.

Cliff spotted them in Tatura in the state’s north.

Senior Physics Lecturer at RMIT, Dr Gail Iles, says they’re crepuscular rays, and they’re pretty rarely seen.

“These are kind of sunbeams but not. because the sun is below the horizon,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“What we’re seeing is the sunlight being kind of split through some kind of feature. There will be some buildings or some clouds or some mountains behind there that’s making the sunlight split and forming these crepuscular rays.

“If the caller has turned 180 degrees and looked at the sky in the opposite direction they may well have seen some anticrepuscular rays which are even rarer!”

Press PLAY below for Dr Iles’ explanation of the phenomenon