The ski resort is a great place to see sun halos. These rings of light surround the sun when ice crystals accumulate in the air. Yuichi Takasaka photographed one during a ski trip yesterday at SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia.
“In the morning it was -22 ° C outside, but we went for a drive anyway and were amazed by the landscape!” Takasaka says.
Normal solar halos are formed by the reflection of sunlight by ice crystals in high-altitude cirrus clouds. The so-called "ski halos" are formed by ice crystals that are lifted into the air by skiers and snowblowers and hover closer to the ground.
A special type of crystal, called "diamond dust", appeared on the leeward side of the slope under the influence of snowplowing equipment. These crystals have superior optical properties than natural crystals in the clouds and create very bright and distinct halos.
If you look closely at the image, you can see the glare of diamond dust in the air. According to the skier, the halo, parhelia and zenith arcs shone in the sky for more than two hours.
