Strange bright red sun seen in Florida baffles people. It has a perfectly simple explanation

A strange sunset seen in Florida this weekend left residents questioning reality. The fireball appeared extremely weird, taking on a dark red and orangish hue on May 31. People were baffled to see the Sun look like a cutout and donning strange colours. Photos posted on social media show a bizarre sun and have attracted several comments.

People called it out as proof that we are living in a simulation, with another saying that the matrix seems to be broken. Another user posted a similar picture of the sun taken in Ohio the day before that.

In some photos, the sun looks dark red, while in others it looks misty white and red. Some pictures also appeared to show two suns. A few people on social media even thought that they were looking at Mars because of its bright red hue.

"Was this Mars I saw on wednesday and not the moon? It looked really cool for a sec," a user wrote.

What caused the red sun in Florida?

However, the phenomenon has a perfect explanation. According to meteorologists, the sun can project such colours in certain conditions. In this particular case, the reason was the smoke generated by the Canadian wildfire. This is a rare atmospheric phenomenon and can also happen in places where there is heavy pollution.

Andrew Stutzke told WQAD News 8 that when smoke reaches the upper atmosphere, such an effect is created. He added that the visible light spectrum is affected because of smoke. Normally, we can see orange, yellows and greens. But wildfire smoke blocks the shorter wavelengths, that is, green, blue, indigo, and violet. So you are left with red, yellow and orange, and that is what people could see in Florida.

Meanwhile, the "Second Sun" effect was the result of light scattering through smoke. Records suggest that similar incidents have been seen in the past as well. A "double sunset" was described by Dr. Robert Plot in 1686.