Just this past Saturday I spent the day in at Castle Island, So. Boston, picnicking, touring the fort and whatnot. During one of the quieter moments of the day I happened to look up at the sky and saw a sun halo, plus some additional atmospheric phenomena, some of it quite rare. The halo and the sundogs are pretty common under partly to mostly cloudy conditions, but the circumscribed halo and the 120* parhelic circle are not seen very often at all.
In this first image we see the standard 22* halo, the sun dogs, and the nearly horizontal line at the top of the halo is actually part of an oval shaped halo called a circumscribed halo;
In this image with an unblocked sun we can see the internal reaches of the Parhelic Circle, which stretches in a great circle from each side of the sun and all the way around the sky;
In this composite image I've assembled several images of the 120* Parhelic Circle to show it in it's entirety. The 120* designation comes from the additional set of sundogs located on the circle 120* away from the sun. In the composite they appear to lay at 90*, but the layout is greatly distorted partly due to the fact that I was working with very wide angle cell phone images, and partly due to the fact that I wouldn't have a clue how to get it perfect even if I had normal aspect ratio images. Regardless, I think you get the picture;
Seeing this stuff just made my day! I've got a video that I took and will post it as soon as I make a YouTube account.
More information about the phenomena seen in these images;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumscribed_halo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelic_circle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/120%C2%B0_parhelion
Interesting Phenomena
Interesting Phenomena
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
Re: Interesting Phenomena
Wow that is pretty cool Mike! Maybe you could give a short talk sometime at the club on sun phenomena? I admit I hadn't heard of parhelic circles before! Rebekah
RebekahB
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Explore Scientific AR102 refractor/Garrett Optical 30x100 binos/Oberwerk P-Mount
"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies / When a new planet swims into her ken..."
ASSNE Meetup Page (all public events): http://www.meetup.com/ASSNE-MA-RI
Explore Scientific AR102 refractor/Garrett Optical 30x100 binos/Oberwerk P-Mount
"Then felt I like some watcher of the skies / When a new planet swims into her ken..."
Re: Interesting Phenomena
Wow, incredible!
I would also be interested in hearing a talk about the phenomena and this photo.
I would also be interested in hearing a talk about the phenomena and this photo.
Andy
Re: Interesting Phenomena
The new member that was sitting behind myself and Bob M with the two children was showing Bob and I some of the same pictures he took of this as well. Very interesting.
Paul...
16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
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16" f/5 Night Sky Truss (Midnight Mistress)
10" f/5 Home built Dob with Parks mirror.
Pre-Meade PST
Celestron Skymaster Binos 25-125x80
Meade Travelview Binos 10x50
See that 16" in the sleek black dress? She is all mine. :)
Re: Interesting Phenomena
Great idea for a presentation, Mike and great pics!
Tom
Tom
Tom H
"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." - Louis Pasteur
"Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity, and is the torch which illuminates the world. Science is the highest personification of the nation because that nation will remain the first which carries the furthest the works of thought and intelligence." - Louis Pasteur