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Sun / Solar Visual Phenomena (Halo, Ring, Sun Dog etc.)

marion

marion

Ungnoing.
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Anyway , a couple of years ago I saw a sun ring though the ring was further from the sun than the ring in the moon pics schnor mentioned . It was June or July with high bubbly/wispy clouds though I don't know if they were high enough to be ice clouds , I suppose they must have been ?
Marion
 
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Marion said:
Anyway , a couple of years ago I saw a sun ring though the ring was further from the sun than the ring in the moon pics schnor mentioned . It was June or July with high bubbly/wispy clouds though I don't know if they were high enough to be ice clouds , I suppose they must have been ?
Marion
Click to expand...

Those are called "Sun Dogs" (at least that's what I think your thinking of)

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/science/wonderquest/sundog121300.htm
 
Not really like that - more like the moon rings , a band of light in a circle around the sun , even all the way round but further from the sun than the moon rings , not patches of light each side ,
Marion
 
I also saw a ring around the sun when I was at school, 25 years ago. This was a huge bright oval ring, around the sun. It almost filled the sky. We were having a geography lesson at the time, and I pointed it out to everyone. The geography teacher proceeded to give us all an explanation of what it was.
I have never seen such a sight again.
 
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I saw one of these from the Great Orme Llandudno North Wales 31 May 2004 and thought it was fantastic.
I know it is a recognised atmospheric/optical phenomenon but I'd never seen one before and wanted to share this with you all. Is it possible others saw it? was it reported? how common are they?


www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/atm/a15.html
Link is dead. No archived version found.
 
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Nice photo.

Nothing too bright* to add sorry. I would like to wonder out loud, as it were, about the comonplace digital cameras. How it is more likely than ever that Fortean events will be caught and hopefully published.

* Accidental pun, honest

Soong
 
Please do not think that the link photo is mine. I just looks very similar to the one I took , complete with the shading hand trying not to burn out my CCD!
 
... I've been looking for somewhere to post my sun-halo picture:

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b267/ ... unhalo.jpg

I just happened to notice the effect when I looked out of my window a week or two ago. I think if I'd seen it a few moments before it might have been more pronounced because it was fading even as I saw it and was completely gone 10 minutes later.
 
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I haven't seen any halos, but I once saw what I think they call a sun dog. It look like there were two suns, an one of them slowly moving around the other.
 
I've seen quite a few sundogs myself - and, occasionally, the 'upside-down rainbow' that sometimes occurs with these parhelia things.

'upside down rainbow'? you ask. Yep. If you happen to see a sundog (a 'mock sun' than can appear either side of the sun) then look directly upwards from the sun itself. Sometimes, you can see what appears to be the apex of a rainbow, only upside down.
 
I saw a really amazing huge moon-halo just a few weeks ago. I couldn't get any photos of it to come out though. I posted about it on a thread somewhere on this board. It was one of the spookiest things I've ever seen.

I also took this photo of a (slightly pale) sun halo earlier in the year:
sunhalo.jpg
 
mindalai said:
I also took this photo of a (slightly pale) sun halo earlier in the year:
Click to expand...

Is it something with digital camera's properties or light conditions? My pictures of sun dogs never look so nice as the original. They are alway much less colourful and their contrast is always less than I remember.

But "normal" pictures (not of sun dogs) with the camera are always quite good. And rainbows seem to photograph better than sun dogs. Any ideas?

BTW: Halo's are quite rare, I saw only one this whole year.
Sun dogs are less rare, I guess I saw 5-10 or so this year.
I guess I see as many rainbows as sun dogs.
What are your statistics?
 
In my photo it was the halo that was quite pale in real life, the camera caught it quite well. I agree though that normally things like that don't seem to photograph well (not for me anyway). I don't know why, probably something to do with the way the camera compensates for light conditions, so if you photograph something quite bright, it dulls the whole picture so it isn't overexposed.

I probably spend a bit more time than most just staring into the sky so I've seen about 3 or 4 sun halos this year, and 2 moon halos. I've never ever seen a sun dog though. Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to see my first ever irridescent cloud, but unfortunately didn't have my camera there. You'll just have to take my word for it, it was quite beautiful and spectacular.
 
mindalai said:
Earlier in the year I was lucky enough to see my first ever irridescent cloud. You'll just have to take my word for it, it was quite beautiful and spectacular.
Click to expand...

So it's not a subtle, hard-to-catch thing? (That's what I read in one book.) I mean - you immediately recognize it, just like with a halo?
 
So it's not a subtle, hard-to-catch thing? (That's what I read in one book.) I mean - you immediately recognize it, just like with a halo?
Click to expand...

Its not a subtle thing at all, i have seen plenty of fantastically coloured high clouds in the evenings and mornings but i have only once seen an irridescent cloud and you would immediatly notice the difference. In fact the one i seen brought people to a stand still, i was working in a shop in my home town and just came out for a breath of fresh air and looked up to see it, i stood there for some time and noticed that quite a few other people had stopped to look at it as well. Some passing people even asked me what i was looking at and when i pointed it out they just shrugged their shoulders and went on there way. There is just no pleasing some people. I really hope i get to see more, pictures just don't do it justice.
 
Sun pillar and arc

Last week I saw this sun pillar combined with - I think - an "upper tangent arc". I had never seen that one before so I was quite happy :D

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/sunpillar03.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/sunpillar02.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e182/uair01/sunpillar01.jpg

I think this is the same as this one:
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/column.htm

But my pictures of sun dogs never turn out that nicely. Any suggestions?
 
From here.

(The site search didn't show anything up for sun dogs - apologies if there's a thread out there already!)
 
Hm, arrgh - Photoshop hijinx or actual light phenomenon?

And if the latter, who come???
 
Is this the same atmospheric effect that gives wolf rings around the moon?
I've certainly seen those in Ireland.
LD
 
lorddrakul said:
Is this the same atmospheric effect that gives wolf rings around the moon?
I've certainly seen those in Ireland.
LD
Click to expand...
If it's like a rainbow ring around the moon, then yes. It's caused by ice crystals in the air and it's a good sign of approaching rain. Do you know why it's called a wolf ring?
 
If it's like a rainbow ring around the moon, then yes. It's caused by ice crystals in the air and it's a good sign of approaching rain. Do you know why it's called a wolf ring?
Click to expand...

I first heard of the phenomenon as part of Nordic lore and it was said to be the conditions that favoured wolves abroad, particualrly were-wolves.

But yes, it is the lensing effect that ice crystals have. AFAIR, it is something to do with the triple point of water where crystals and vapour can occur at the same time in thin, highlevel clouds. The moon usually produces a huge ring in the sky, but the target reticle effect in the sun pics is a new one to me.

Interesting that they both have a canine reference!

LD
 
rynner2 said:
Excellent Sun Dog pics here:

Eye in the sky: 'Sun dog' halo blazes over Bournemouth beach

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z0uJST88ho
Click to expand...

As one of the comments noted, that isn't a sun dog. A 'Dog is a separate light in the sky, or 'second sun'. I saw an exceptional example a few years ago while fishing on the Yorkshire Ouse, two identical suns a few degrees apart on the western bank.
 
colpepper1 said:
rynner2 said:
Excellent Sun Dog pics here:

Eye in the sky: 'Sun dog' halo blazes over Bournemouth beach

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z0uJST88ho
Click to expand...
As one of the comments noted, that isn't a sun dog. A 'Dog is a separate light in the sky, or 'second sun'.
Click to expand...
It's clear from the Wiki article that these are all different aspects of the same phenomenon. If conditions are right, a complete ring appears around the sun. At other times only parts of the ring show, giving the 'second sun' appearance (although usually some faint arcs of the ring can be seen as well).
 
Anonymous said:
If it's like a rainbow ring around the moon, then yes. It's caused by ice crystals in the air and it's a good sign of approaching rain. Do you know why it's called a wolf ring?
Click to expand...

I first heard of the phenomenon as part of Nordic lore and it was said to be the conditions that favoured wolves abroad, particualrly were-wolves.

But yes, it is the lensing effect that ice crystals have. AFAIR, it is something to do with the triple point of water where crystals and vapour can occur at the same time in thin, highlevel clouds. The moon usually produces a huge ring in the sky, but the target reticle effect in the sun pics is a new one to me.

Interesting that they both have a canine reference!

LD
Click to expand...

I`vce never heard of the tem "wolf rings" before!

It seems our canine friends (domestic, wild and mythological) are more important to astronomy than i originally thought!
 
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