Optical Phenomena Volume VI
- This topic has 100 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 10 months ago by
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Love the moon shots. Sometimes those optical effects are the coolest of all. I especially love watching them on a warm spring night and following the cloud as they drift across the sky.
Here is a rainbow, from an absolutely stunning sunset. I may have done this during a shift at work. Luckily the boss didn’t see!
Drama
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Ruth, I love the way you capture the mood and the mystery in your elegant moon shots.
Gregory, glad you are looking out the window there! ;)
Hans, what a dramatic scene with that grand sky and the subtle coloring in your Lowbow. And I hope your sundog doesn’t slip while romping across a frozen pond.
Canine in a Cavum
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Keelin, what a great Canine in a Cavum. Very clever title also. Quite a rare occasion to spot a sundog in the streaks of a fallstreak hole. I also love Sun Splash being a stray guest in this thread. 😊 Fetch shows a different stray fellow chasing a fiery ball. Very funny.
Love your Moon Burn Ruth. Great composition and play with light. And there is a tasty Spumoni to finish with.
So sad, twindogs will never be able to play together….
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Robert, your starry night sky is beautiful! A close encounter with the cosmos—and who knows what else?
Hans, did you wag back at that happy looking sundog’s tail?
Ariel, your timing is perfection to be catching the arcs and more. Thrilling, indeed!
And Ruth, I love the wild shape of the moon glow you captured.
Iridescent ‘Do
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Yes indeed Keelin, my sundog would have loved to chase your multicolored squirrel. Love it. It is a great Iridescent ‘Do you spotted. My pareidolic me sees a mask of light with a colored hairdress.
Ruth I love your lenticulars with the colored fringes just as the rainbow rockettes have by Ariel.
Ariel, what a great collection of halos you posted. It is especially the circumscribed halo I love most.
I am looking forward to new halo appearances over here, but I also have my archive to dig for more sundogs.
Archivedog -
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Thanks, Ruth! I think you are correct with the identifications (though I’m not clear on the difference between a TA and an Upper TA?). It really was such a surprise. You also have a keen eye for iridescence—as well as for vases. ;) And I love the softness of your latest capture. It’s almost like those little twigs at the bottom of the image snagged them just for you. And did I read something about your love of dogs? Here are a couple who came out to play recently…
Playtime for the Pups
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That was a marvelous upper tangent arc you spotted, Keelin, together with a sun pillar. The sun is just set and the UTA takes this sharp shape when the sun is that low. Here is a link to a page where you can simulate the height of the sun with the mouse and see what shape the UTA takes: Simulate shape of UTA
Several great iridescences Ruth and it is a very nice couple of sundogs you spotted Ariel.
Shadows And Rays
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Ah Ruth, your moon shots never fail to leave me howling in joy. And it looks like that Spinning Top has wrung some iridescence out of the clouds.
Ariel, those playful sun dogs keep my eyes shifting back and forth waiting to see which side will catch that great luminescent ball. A splendid catch of iridescence!
Hans, what a dramatic portrait of Shadows and Rays! And thank you so much for the link to the atopics site—very helpful. Having had a look there, I’m thinking the photo below might show a faint portion of Circumscribed Halo?
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What a double beauty, Ruth, a sky full of delicious sorbet!
Thanks, Hans, and for confirmation on the earlier halo post. You captured the full eye in your latest. Don’t you just love it when there’s a thin veil of clouds included?
On the road ‘tween Colorado and New Mexico last week, the sky appeared to be celebrating Pride month!
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Keelin, what a feast to celebrate pride month the way the sky did when you were on your way ‘tween Colorado and New Mexico. When you ask me, this is one for the calendar!
There is delicate iridescence in Not So Bold, Ruth.
Next one is a photo from 2021 and I don’t remember whether I shared it before. I was digging in my archive because I wanted to check when I saw the the last time. Now I hope to spot noctilucent clouds this summer again.
Nocturnal
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Thanks, Ruth and Hans. That CHA was such a surprise on the cloud-filled drive. Good thing I wasn’t at the wheel.
Not So Bold is like a whisper, Ruth—in a heart shape!
And what a delight to see noctilucent clouds, Hans. I hope they will be frequent visitors for you throughout the summer.
Here’s another from the recent Colorado drive, this time through the car window after a bit of rain. Could be a story in this one, but I leave it to you to write the script. ;)
Open to Interpretation
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No noctilucent yet, since I posted one (above) from 2021. Patience is a valuable thing.
Open to Interpretation is very funny, Keelin. I could not decide whether it is best to leave it open or not, but I just can’t resist to share one interpretation, with the intention to leave it open for more interpretations. I see someone desperately looking for his glasses to find out what we all see.
Here is just a little experiment with iridescence from the archives.
A Dressed Up Ghost?
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Hans, you had me laughing with your clever response and hilarious interpretation. And I think you nailed it—which makes me wonder: Could that fellow’s glasses be atop his very own noggin? I’ve been there, done that on occasion. Or were they borrowed by the clownish ghost with the big nose and the smile Ruth spotted hovering above? And might that even be the same ghost you caught dressed up in iridescent disguise? A beauty of an outfit!
Speaking of seeing things, Ruth, you have a keen eye to have caught that sweet Splash of Color. It’s always a thrill, isn’t it, no matter the size.
Underlined
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Thanks, Michael. I must say Halo Dancer is wonderfully mysterious. Has she risen from the sea? The image is captivating.
Ariel, I love those hazy days and the subtle halos we’ve learned to spot!
Ah, Ruth, you caught that one! And surely there are more to come with the approaching season.
Those with an eye for pareidolia might find Aeolus in profile below, on the left blowing out a curl of cloud.
Aeolus at Work — or is it Play?
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Violet sunset. Light scattering caused by Saharan dust in the upper atmosphere
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That’s a beauty Arielko, and thanks Keelin – iridescence the subject here – but it looks for all the world like a nacreous cloud which it can’t be in southern Britain. Or can it???
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Deleted accidental duplicate entry but can’t post blank reply. Hmm.
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Ariel, you spotted a beautiful combination of halos. Keelin your iridescence at the edge of a developing cumulus is fantastic.
And Tony, I don’t think you spotted nacreous. It is simply not the right season to spot nacreous. We are in between the summer where nocticlucent clouds can occur and the winter when nacreous is possible to show up on the Northern hemisphere. Nacreous is only visible in the winter between sunset or sunrise and one or two hours after sunset / before sunrise. Here is some more info about Nacreous clouds including a link to a page with a comparison between iridescence and nacreous clouds. You can read it is possible to spot it (although rarely in the South of England too. I hope you like it.Some more iridescence in close-up from the archive.
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Thanks very much Hans, that’s very useful information and fantastic photos. So yes my cloud is definitely tropospheric. I guess I expect iridescence to follow rainbow patterns but it doesn’t always as your image shows. That’s amazing texture. I managed to catch this amusing coincidence the other day – the cloud was a contrail at one point.
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Thanks, Hans and Ariel. And wow what a beautiful dog you found, Hans. Maybe that’s the tail wagging in joy at finding you! And Ariel, I love your auroral moon shots, especially the one with the tree adding a painterly touch to the star-dappled scene.
I don’t know what the sun thought it was up to…
I Know You’re There
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Wow, where to start. Keelin, first off, I loved your gallery photo last week. It never gets old seeing your own photo on the big display!
Arielko, beautiful corona you spotted. Tons of color in that one.
Hans, a delicate sundog up there. While I am at it, great sunset on the gallery today. Fabulous multiple colors in those layers.
Dish Of Spumoni
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Arielko you must have had a great day spotting this halo display. Love it. Yes, a sunvex Parry arc is there for sure. On your last image there is also a CZA and a UTA, but I am sure you already noticed. Maybe also a very faint supralateral arc?
For some reason halo displays seem to be rarer over here. I have to send a ….
Halo Sniffer Dog
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Thanks Ariel. Great halo display and yes a supralateral is not perfectly round. The 46 degrees halo is more rare, so usually it is a supraletral halo that you can see touching the CZA and that is also a difference between the two. The 46 degrees halo is a bit lower and clearly separated from the CZA in case the halos are visible enough. In you photo thuis is hard to see since the halos are a bit faint. Here is a link with the differences between the two halos: http://A 46 degrees halo or a supralateral halo
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Ariel, you are an optical phenomenon whisperer!
Hans, how lucky to have the dogs on your side for sniffing out those rare events. What kind of treats do you feed them?
Ruth, your latest (Past Life) is a phantamagoric delight that makes me grin with glee.
And speaking of a past life…
Who Put Bleach In the Wash?!
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Ruth, your moon and halo are so moody in a good way. Keelin, bleach in the wash made me laugh out loud!
Indeed there was another CZA today, but so fleeting I just watched it fade in and out.
But this! I have never seen a corona or iridescence accompanied by sun dogs or a halo, much less a CZA. but today we had the whole kit and caboodle.
here is the iridescence with one sun dog to the left. have you witnessed both together? Do you have pics?
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Ruth, your moon and halo are so moody in a good way. Keelin, bleach in the wash made me laugh out loud!
Indeed there was another CZA today, but so fleeting I just watched it fade in and out.
But this! I have never seen a corona or iridescence accompanied by sun dogs or a halo, much less a CZA. but today we had the whole kit and caboodle.
here is the iridescence with one sun dog to the left. have you witnessed both together? Do you have pics?
edit …actually I have witnessed both but it’s been a long time and I had forgotten. But still would love to see photos if you have them!
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Autumn Halo
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So Nice to See You!
wow, everyone, thrilling stuff! i love being a cloud nerd
rainbow rockettes
exciting return of the halo, Ruth. Every halo day is a holiday!
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