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Halo (optical phenomenon)

Halo is the name for a family of optical phenomena produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky. Many of these are near the Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the best known halo types are the circular halo (properly called the 22° halo), light pillars and sun dogs, but there are many more; some of them fairly common, others (extremely) rare.

The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere, but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals are responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions.

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Milky Way; a spectacular night sky in New Zealand

A stunning example of cloud iridescence, caused by small ice crystals scattering the sun's rays, filmed in Narathiwat, Thailand.

Credit: Orawan Thongchinda

Flowers of Two Thousand Years (Part 2)

[[Part 1]] You may need to have read The Vampire Lestat and The Queen of the Damned to understand the following 9 pages:

The next update will be the last one.

I am missing snow so much this year ❄️❄️

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