Undertoad Wednesday Jul 20 04:32 PM7/20/2005: Circumzenithal Arc
Today's Earth Science Pic of the Day is breathtaking, an absolute stunner. At first I thought it must be enhanced, but no - as the official caption from photographer Thomas Herrmann has it:
Sitting in a garden in Erlensee, Germany on May 27, I realized that cirrus clouds were visible all across the sky. Knowing that these clouds can provide an opportunity to observe atmospheric phenomena, I kept an eye on the sky and was rewarded by seeing the amazing circumzenithal arc, shown above. With just a little imagination, you can see seahorses floating inside the arc. Circumzenithal arcs are perhaps the most colourful of all halo-related phenomena. In fact, many people who witness them believe they're rainbows because of their beauty and arc-like shape. However, contrary to a rainbow, which forms a circle around the antisolar point, a circumzenithal arc appears, as its name implies, at the zenith. Only the portion pointing towards the Sun is visible.
I still don't quite understand it.
Trilby Wednesday Jul 20 04:34 PMCoolCoolCool!!! I want the poster!
Queen of the Ryche Wednesday Jul 20 05:01 PMlooks like a little yellow electric person jumping off the end.....
capnhowdy Wednesday Jul 20 07:02 PMI don't understand the caption entirely, but I do know this is cool. And very beautiful. I guess you can only see these in Germany. I've never seen anything close to this. Very interesting. Input. Input. Input. Thanx.
This guy was really lucky to get this shot.
xoxoxoBruce Wednesday Jul 20 08:38 PMIf you go to the link there is a link to the photographers website. It's not in English but I actually spent a couple hours looking at his pictures yesterday.
wah Wednesday Jul 20 11:58 PMHmmm, I guess that's not the same kind of thing I saw.
<a href="http://photos13.flickr.com/19227211_5b8abd983a_b.jpg">Here's a couple</i> <a href="http://photos15.flickr.com/19227212_0a32228f97_b.jpg">shots</a> of a rainbow-like thing I saw over Phoenix a couple months back.
I'm still not sure what it was. Just a very dense cloud acting like a prism.
And did you see <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8631798/">why the sky is blue? And why it <i>really</i> isn't</a>. Cool article.
poohbearbeth Thursday Jul 21 12:43 AMLooks like little seahorses dancing!
Elspode Thursday Jul 21 12:48 AMThose are sundogs...one on each side of the sun.
wah Thursday Jul 21 12:50 AMahh, thanks
everyday I tell ya. Every day.
Trilby Thursday Jul 21 05:00 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elspode
Those are sundogs...one on each side of the sun.
|
How did you know that? I've never heard of sundogs. You amaze me, els. The Cellar is an amazing place.
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jul 21 05:10 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elspode
Those are sundogs...one on each side of the sun.
|
How can they be sun dogs if they're 48 degrees above the sun? Don't sun dogs flank the sun?
mlandman Thursday Jul 21 01:15 PMlooking at the title of the thread....
.....all I could think of was Spencer Tunic (or whatever the dude's name is that takes pictures of all the naked people) and a knife.
-mike
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jul 21 07:53 PMYour thinking of Rabbi Turnick.
Elspode Friday Jul 22 12:16 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
How can they be sun dogs if they're 48 degrees above the sun? Don't sun dogs flank the sun?
|
I thought those *were* flanking the sun...
What did you do, drag out the antique protractor and measure the mean angle of the apparitions?
wolf Friday Jul 22 12:55 AMBruce just knows.
xoxoxoBruce Friday Jul 22 04:41 AM
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elspode
I thought those *were* flanking the sun...
What did you do, drag out the antique protractor and measure the mean angle of the apparitions?
|
No. I read the link. Is that cheating?
Pie Friday Jul 22 01:29 PM
Quote:
Originally Posted by wah
<a href="http://photos13.flickr.com/19227211_5b8abd983a_b.jpg">Here's a couple</i> <a href="http://photos15.flickr.com/19227212_0a32228f97_b.jpg">shots</a> of a rainbow-like thing I saw over Phoenix a couple months back.
|
(As others have pointed out) That, my friend, is a sundog, also known as parahelia. Best one I ever saw myself was at Hanscom AFB in MA. Arizona's got a lot of great atmospheric optics, though.
-Pie
Elspode Friday Jul 22 01:37 PMBruce sez they aren't sundogs, due to the lack of an obligatory angular requirement.
Yes, Bruce...reading the links is, in fact, cheating. It makes it much harder for me to sound like I'm intelligent when people who actually *are* intelligent use logic and research to dispute points which I have carefully pulled out of my ass and tossed onto the screen. :p
xoxoxoBruce Friday Jul 22 06:07 PMDon't you call me a TW, I'll kick your ass.
BigV Friday Jul 22 07:47 PMSo, Els, do you have to pull them out carefully because you're such a tightass, or is it because they're, well, pointy?
xoxoxoBruce Thursday Jul 28 11:27 PMThis was taken over Dallas around 7-21-05.
Your reply here?
The Cellar Image of the Day is just a section of a larger web community: a bunch of interesting folks talking about everything. Add your two cents to IotD by joining the Cellar.
|