On June 24, NASA unveiled its latest Astronomy Picture of the Day.
The picture appears to show an upside-down city just chilling beneath the clouds, and it’s undoubtedly magnificent.
Without photo manipulation involved, the image clearly shows the city of Chicago just from a slightly different angle, captured from an aeroplane by photographer Mark Hersch.
NASA shared the photo on its Astronomy Picture of the Day site, with scientists Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnel explaining the strange phenomenon in significant detail.
Astronomy Picture of the Day showcases a different image each day, with a professional astronomer giving an explanation for whatever discovery or phenomenon is captured each time.
Regarding the upside-down city of Chicago, scientists Bonnel and Nemiroff described the picture as ‘fascinating’ and ‘puzzling’ yet ‘beautiful’, adding that it was taken from an aeroplane on approach to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport in 2014.
“How could that city be upside-down? The city, Chicago, was actually perfectly right-side up. The long shadows it projected onto nearby Lake Michigan near sunset, however, when seen in reflection, made the buildings appear inverted,” the scientists wrote.
“The Sun can be seen both above and below the cloud deck, with the latter reflected in the calm lake. As a bonus, if you look really closely – and this is quite a challenge – you can find another airplane in the image, likely also on approach to the same airport.”