|
Credit & Copyright: Stephen Bedingfield
Explanation:
You've probably seen a circle
around the Sun before.
More common than rainbows, ice halos,
like a 22 degree circular halo for example, can be easy to spot,
especially if you can shade your eyes from direct sunlight.
Still it's rare to see such a diverse
range of ice halos,
including
sundogs, tangent, infralateral, and Parry arcs,
all found in this
snapshot from planet Earth.
The picture was quickly taken in the late morning of
September 4 from Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.
The beautiful patterns are generated as sunlight
(or moonlight)
is reflected and refracted in six-sided water ice crystals
in Earth's atmosphere.
Of course, atmospheric ice halos in the skies of
other worlds
are likely
to be different.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: halo
Publications with words: halo
See also: