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Rainbows, Fall River Pass, Colorado
Rocky Mountain storms are often fierce. After enduring the worst one I’ve ever seen, we were rewarded with a dazzling set of rainbows. Note that when there is a second, outer rainbow, the colors are reversed.
Above: Leica M6, 24mm lens
Below: with 90mm lens
Solar Halo
Nasa monument to fallen astronauts, Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL
Solar (and lunar) halos are caused by refraction of sunlight through six-sided ice crystals in high clouds. The halo forms at a 22-degree radius around the Sun. The colors can be rather muted, especially with lunar halos. Red is always on the inside because of differential refraction.
Sun Dogs
What a wonderful name!
“Sundogs, also known as mock suns or parhelia, form as sunlight is refracted by hexagonal plate-like ice crystals with diameters larger than 30 micrometers and their flat faces horizontally oriented. They are visible when the sun is near the horizon and on the same horizontal plane as the observer and the ice crystals. As sunlight passes through the ice crystals, it is bent by 22 degrees before reaching our eyes, much like what happens with 22 degree halos. This bending of light results in the formation of a sundog. The difference between sundogs and halos is the preferential orientation of the ice crystals through which the light passes before reaching our eyes. If the hexagonal crystals are oriented with their flat faces horizontal, a sundog is observed. If the hexagonal crystals are randomly oriented, a halo is observed.” Department of Atmospheric Sciences, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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Lightning across a clear star field
On October 19, 2004, I went outside to observe. The skies overhead were crystal clear, and it looked to be a good night. But a sudden flash to the north lit the entire sky. It was a huge storm cloud, with an incredible lightning display. The thing was far enough from me that I pulled a chair up and just watched for about an hour. It moved eastward, and then started drifting due south, right across my best field of view. As it was still clear over me, I felt comfortable enough to set up my camera on a tripod. My timer was set to take consecutive 2-second shots, and I got about 400 frames. Almost every shot had a lightning flash! I made a QuickTime movie of this event, which is on the “movies” page.
