Sunset Optical Illusion

The below picture was the Astronomy Picture of the Day for April 24, 2012 (via). I have placed it here because the photo provides an imaginative illusion of a sunset. How can you get the stars so bright with the sun still hanging low in the sky? The truth is you can't unless your Ulrich Beinert and refuse to accept the laws of nature.

The complete explanation of this picture follows below and has been quoted from the APOD archive.

Star Clouds over Arizona
Credit & Copyright: Ulrich Beinert

Explanation: The clouds in the foreground are much different than the clouds in the background. In the foreground are a photogenic deck of Earth-based water clouds. The long exposure used to create the above photograph makes the light from the left, reflected from Phoenix, Arizona, USA, appear like a sunset. Far in the distance, however, are star clouds from the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy. Billions of stars like our Sun live there, circling our Galactic center every 200 million years. Contrast between the water clouds and the star clouds has been digitally enhanced. Between the two, visible on the upper right, is the planet Jupiter.