Jacob's Ladder

[Mike]

Jacob's Ladder Songfacts

Jacob’s Ladder refers to rays of sunlight that appear to radiate from a single point in the sky. These rays, which stream through gaps in clouds, are parallel columns of sunlit air separated by darker cloud-shadowed regions. The name comes from a dream Jacob (Genesis 28:12) had envisioning a ladder stretched from heaven to earth with angels descending and ascending on it. Various airborne compounds scatter the sunlight and make these rays visible. The reason we see the light so defined is because of diffraction, reflection and scattering.

These crepuscular rays are near-parallel, but appear to diverge because of linear perspective. They often occur when objects such as mountain peaks or clouds partially shadow the sun's rays like a cloud cover.