11/29: Upper Tangent Arc

This is another solar phenomenon that is not aliens. It's called an "upper tangent arc". It happens when "cirrus clouds contain columnar ice crystals aligned so that their axes are all in a horizontal direction". Got it.

This is always about 22 degrees away from the Sun itself. This particular image also has a bit of "sun pillar" which was an iotd a few days ago.

I can honestly say that I've never seen one of those but I'd really like to see a sun pillar. That would be cool.

Honestly though... the Northern Lights are about the coolest looking things ever

The northern lights have been really active and gorgeously glowy this fall around here- (MN) then those Leonids- How cool was that?! (pretty damn cool)

Lucky you. I'd kill my mother to see them. Not really. But still. Wow. Being down in Virginia though...

Until this year I had never really seen anything too dramatic- sun dogs, a few greeny gold streaks, a bit of a ripple to the north. But this past Oct, my neighbor wrangled our block outside and it was red and pulsing- Waaahhh Makes me want to roadtrip even further north- Flin Flon?

Word has it that anything in Alaska is pretty spectacular. I have some bookmarked sites at home with some really awesome pictures that I'll post some time. Man. Amazing.

This site has some great pics of the Northern Lights.