20 Most Incredible Light Phenomena [pics]
Tue, Jul 22, 2008
Ice and Water Refractions
Circumhorizontal Arc
Image by Todd_Sackmann
Also known as a ‘fire rainbow’ these streaks of colour are created when light is refracted through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. The phenomenon is especially rare as both the ice crystals and sun must be oriented in exact horizontal alignment to create the effect. This particularly dramatic example was captured in the sky over Spokane, WA, in 2006.
Brocken Spectre
Image by E64
As the sun shines from behind a climber or other object at altitude their shadow is projected through the upper surfaces of clouds, creating a curiously magnified triangular shape. The effect is often seen in conjunction with the glowing rings of a glory (Heiligenschein) – rings of coloured light that appear directly opposite the sun when sunlight is reflected by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. It takes its name from the frequent fogs and low-altitude accessibility of the Brocken peaks in Germany, a region in which it is often witnessed.
Circumzenithal Arc
Image by Cdlune1890
Appearing like an ‘upside down rainbow’ the circumzenithal arc is similarly formed by the refraction of light through horizontal ice crystals in specific cloud forms. The phenomenon is centered at the zenith, parallel to the horizon, its colours running from blue to red towards the horizon and always in the form of an incomplete circular arc – a complete circle in a similar situation is the exceptionally rare Kern Arc, only captured on camera for the first time in 2007.
Fog Bow
Image by Mila Zinkova
This dramatic halo was seen below the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, appearing like an all-white rainbow. Like a rainbow it is created by the refraction of light through water droplets in the clouds, yet the unlike a rainbow the small size of fog droplets accounts for its lack of colour. Mariners often refer to them as ‘sea-dogs’ or ‘cloud bows’.
Glory
Image by cloudwender
When light is backscattered (a combination of reflection, refraction and diffraction) back towards its source by water droplets in clouds, the shadow of an object between the cloud and source may be wreathed in coloured bands. Named after the majestic effect it imparts – in some parts of China it is even called Buddha’s Light – it is often seen in conjunction with the Brocken Spectre. Here the beautiful bands dramatically surround a plane’s shadow against a cloud.
Natural Fireworks and Light Displays >
Piercing Rays and Solemn Shadows >
22º Halo
Image by tiagomuller
Halos are among the most well-known of optical phenomena and appear under a variety of guises. The most frequently scene is the 22º halo, caused by ice crystals in high altitude cirrus clouds, yet the particular shape and orientation of the crystals can create variation in the appearance of the halo. During very cold weather halos formed by crystals close to the ground reflect sunlight between them sending it in several directions at once, an effect known as diamond dust.
Iridescent Clouds
Image by hackdaddy
When the sun is positioned at precisely the correct angle behind clouds water droplets in them diffract light away, creating an intense streaking effect. The colouring is, like a rainbow, caused by the differing wavelengths of the light – different wavelengths are diffracted to different degrees, altering the angle of diffraction and consequently the colour of the light as it is perceived. In this image cloud iridescence is accompanied by a sharply coloured ranbow.
Moonbow
Image by xcom
The combination of a low moon and dark sky often creates moonbows, essentially rainbows produced by the moon’s light. Appearing in the opposite end of the sky to the moon itself, they usually are seen as completely white due to their weak colouring, however long-exposure photography can capture the true colours, as in this example taken at Yosemite National Park, California.
Parhelic Circle
Image by feuillu
The parhelic circle appears like a white band circling the sky and always at the same height above the horizon as the sun. Usually only fragments are seen, extending from ‘sundogs’ in the directions away from the sun. Millions of vertically facing ice crystals mirror the sun around the sky to form the beautiful phenomenon.
Rainbows
Image by Peter_from_Wellington
Rainbows can take many forms: multiple bows, bows that cross, red bows, twinned bows, coloured fringes, dark bands, spokes and many more, but they all share in common their range of colours – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. They are formed when light refracts through water droplets in the earth’s atmosphere, most often rain, but mist or fog can create similar effects, and are rarer than one might imagine. Over history many different cultures have ascribed to them a variety of meanings and explanations from the ancient Greek’s belief they were a path to the heavens, to the curious saying that the Irish leprechaun’s pot of gold lies at their end.
Natural Fireworks and Light Displays >
Piercing Rays and Solemn Shadows >
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July 23rd, 2008 at 12:17 am
Correction for the description of the photo for the Circumhorizontal Arc lists the photo location of Spokane, ID. There is no city of Spokane, ID, but there is a Spokane, WA.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 am
Surreal. Looking at nature in a different light.
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:51 am
Spokane, Idaho? ReallY? It’s Washington. Idaho is like 45 minutes away from Spokane.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 am
What about green flashes?
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:29 am
sorry, the link I put in there didn’t post… here it is again
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 am
I liked the Aurora pic the best. Nice post - thanks.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:41 am
all the pictures i have seen in all are overwhelmingly beatiful. i have never seen anything quite like them. i live in the south and we see rainbows, but thats about it. these are truly amazing.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:50 am
Is there a Spokane in Idaho?
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:01 am
Wow that is amazing.very cool stuff!
JT
Ultimate Anonymity
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:43 am
I’d personally add a ‘green flash’ picture (http://www.kenrockwell.com/2005maui/images/DSC_6710_green_flash.jpg from google image search) and also a post sunset (deep twilight) sunbeams in the upper atmosphere. Lol, I’m not a meteorologist so no clue what the real name is but I guess it’d be a variation on Crepuscular Rays (aka Jesus Light to 3d rendering people).
Another that I don’t know the name of would be upper atmospheric Crepuscular Rays at sunset that appear to be converging opposite the sun due to perspective, which I saw several times growing up in Colorado.
Anyways, I’ve got a pic from Oahu of twilight beams that I can provide, no credit required, not trying to attention whore, just adding my two cents to a cool article. :)
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 am
wow nice images.
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:02 am
Amazing collection of photographs. Great descriptions to go with them also. Our world is a truly amazing place.
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:35 am
wow, extraordinary!
July 23rd, 2008 at 11:49 am
@ Stu - thanks very much we corrected it! Sorry, must be because we Graffiti Artists live in England :(
@ Zeus - message me, would love to see some more of your photos and perhaps turn them into another feature - my details are here: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/about-us-the-blog-and-our-vision/whos-behind-this
@ Grey - we did want to include green flashes, but we couldn’t find any pics that were that spectacular :(
@everyone who enjoyed the post, thanks very much - Tom spent a lot of time on it
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Would be nice to have these pictures big enough where you can make them decent background images, what is the point if you cannot do this???
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Another Arc circumzénithal :
http://nanor44.free.fr/pano/pano42/02.html
Ronan.
July 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Amazing!
July 24th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Forgot to mention with the mirage, it blatently looks like water, seeing it in the desert wanting water n stuff
July 25th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Most of these photos are great…but I must do my civic duty:
I’m a visual effects expert in Hollywood and I have to point out that the photo on this page titled “Crepuscular Rays” with the rays coming through the hole in the natural rock bridge is TOTALLY faked.
First, you will (now) no doubt notice the insurmountable problem that the FRONT of those rocks is lit by the sun, which from the hard shadows on them tells us that the sun is not behind and to the right as the phony ray wants you to believe, it is in fact clearly IN FRONT of the rocks and roughly straight overhead because it’s lighting their front side yet some of the vertical surfaces are in shadow. Look at the hard black shadow under the left side of the arch: if that isn’t a sun shadow from the front then I’m Napoleon. So that beam is not from the sun, it is from Elvis in his Photoshop flying saucer.
The air between the camera and the ray’s terminus on the ground is also much too clear to have evidenced that much diffraction or diffusion in the beam area, that is, the air is way too clear to form that much of a beam. Look at how clear the air is all the way into the far distance (well uh, heh heh…see below) - there’s truly no way you could get that hot a ray under those conditions, even if the cloud shadows going the wrong way and the sun hitting the front of the rocks hadn’t already totally destroyed this picture’s credibility.
To top all that off, THE WHOLE SKY HAS BEEN REPLACED! Look carefully at those clouds: they’re at the wrong perspective! They appear to slope down too much toward the horizon which means that they were shot with a camera that was tilted up more than the camera that shot the rocks - look carefully and you’ll agree.
The casual unprofessional Photoshop trickster likely thought nobody would be able to tell that the perspective was off, but I am an expert and I can tell! The fact that the light is hitting the clouds from the wrong angle compared to the rocks provides another cue to their incorrect perspective. So the guy doesn’t even know that you have to do sky replacements with skies that match the perspective, lens angle and light direction of the landscape image.
Lastly, the patch of ground lit by the rays is the worst Photoshop attempt I have ever seen (ok ok, maybe I’ve seen worse). Where’s the darker area we should see where the obvious gap between the two beams falls? How does the gap between the two beams (where there should be NOTICEABLY LESS SUNLIGHT) end up lighting the ground in that area to the same level as where the hot beams fall?
The guy must have been getting tired by the time he botched that - the color of the patch on the ground is totally wrong (too yellow-green) and not from the same palette of color as the landscape - notice that the beams are NOT yellow-green, they are obviously white and should not change the color palette…all moot anyway because again, (I am laughing as I type) that patch of sun he put on the ground at the foot of the phony beam is in an area of the picture THAT IS ALREADY IN THE SUN as demonstrated above. Doh! What a goofball.
A totally ridiculous amateur Photoshop fake BUSTED!
Would be great for the cover of some religious publication though!
July 25th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
One really seldomn get to see such amazing natures glances but the pics make that show yes it really exists. If we closely to nature that without human interference it is really beautiful
July 27th, 2008 at 4:20 am
Totally Amazing!!!