Majestic effects, optical illusions, mirages, beauties of the night sky - all this gives rise to the play of light … Twenty most beautiful light phenomena are in front of you …
Near-horizontal arc. Known as the "fiery rainbow". Colored stripes appear directly in the sky as a result of the passage of light through ice crystals in cirrus clouds, covering the sky with a "rainbow film". This natural phenomenon is very difficult to see, as both ice crystals and sunlight must be at a certain angle to each other to create a “fire rainbow” effect.
Brokken's Ghost. In some areas of the Earth, an amazing phenomenon can be observed: a person standing on a hill or mountain, behind whose back the sun rises or sets, discovers that his shadow, falling on the clouds, becomes incredibly huge. This is due to the fact that the smallest droplets of fog refract and reflect sunlight in a special way. The phenomenon got its name from the Brocken peak in Germany, where, due to frequent fogs, this effect can be regularly observed.
The peri-zenith arch. The zenith arc is an arc centered at the zenith, approximately 46 ° above the Sun. It is rarely seen and only for a few minutes, has bright colors, clear outlines and is always parallel to the horizon. To an outside observer, she will remind the smile of the Cheshire Cat or an inverted rainbow.
"Foggy" rainbow. The hazy halo looks like a colorless rainbow. Like a normal rainbow, this halo is formed by the refraction of light through water crystals. However, unlike the clouds that form the usual rainbow, the fog that gives rise to this halo consists of smaller particles of the ox, and the light, refracting in tiny droplets, does not color it.
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Gloria. When light is subjected to a backscattering effect (diffraction of light previously reflected in a cloud's water crystals), it returns from the cloud in the same direction as it fell, and forms an effect called "Gloria". You can only observe this effect on clouds that are directly in front of the viewer or below him, at a point that is on the opposite side to the light source. Thus, Gloria can be seen only from a mountain or from an airplane, and the light sources (the Sun or the Moon) must be directly behind the observer. Gloria's rainbow circles in China are also called Buddha Light. In this photo, a beautiful rainbow halo surrounds the shadow of a balloon falling on the cloud below it.
Halo at 22º. White circles of light around the Sun or Moon, which result from the refraction or reflection of light by ice or snow crystals in the atmosphere, are called halos. Small crystals of water are present in the atmosphere, and when their faces form a right angle with the plane passing through the Sun, the observer and the crystals, a characteristic white halo surrounding the Sun becomes visible in the sky. So the edges reflect the rays of light with a deviation of 22 °, forming a halo. During the colder months, halos formed by ice and snow crystals on the earth's surface reflect sunlight and scatter it in different directions, creating an effect called "diamond dust".
Rainbow clouds. When the Sun is at a certain angle to the water droplets that make up the cloud, these droplets refract sunlight and create an unusual rainbow cloud effect, painting it in all the colors of the rainbow. The clouds, like the rainbow, owe their color to different wavelengths of light.
Lunar rainbow. The dark night sky and the bright light of the moon often give rise to a phenomenon called the "lunar rainbow" - a rainbow that appears in the light of the moon. Such rainbows are located on the opposite side of the sky from the Moon and most often appear completely white. However, sometimes you can see them in all their glory.
Parhelion. "Pargelius" in translation from Greek means "false sun". This is one of the halo shapes (see paragraph 6): one or more additional images of the Sun are observed in the sky, located at the same height above the horizon as the real Sun. Millions of vertical ice crystals reflecting the sun form this beautiful phenomenon.
Rainbow. The rainbow is the most beautiful atmospheric phenomenon. Rainbows can take various forms, they have a common rule for the arrangement of colors - in the sequence of the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet). Rainbows can be observed when the Sun illuminates part of the sky and the air is saturated with droplets of moisture, for example, during or immediately after rain. In ancient times, the appearance of a rainbow in the sky was given a mystical meaning. To see a rainbow was considered a good omen, to drive or walk under it promised happiness and success. The double rainbow was said to bring good luck and make wishes come true. The ancient Greeks believed the rainbow was a bridge to the sky, and the Irish believed the legendary leprechaun gold was at the other end of the rainbow.
Northern Lights. The glow observed in the sky in the polar regions is called the northern, or polar lights, as well as southern - in the Southern Hemisphere). It is assumed that this phenomenon also exists in the atmospheres of other planets, such as Venus. The nature and origin of auroras is the subject of intensive research, and in this regard, numerous theories have been developed. "Auroras, according to scientists, arise from the bombardment of the upper atmosphere by charged particles moving towards the Earth along the lines of force of the geomagnetic field from the region of near-Earth space, called the plasma sheet. The projection of the plasma sheet along the geomagnetic field lines onto the earth's atmosphere is in the form of rings surrounding the north and south magnetic poles (auroral ovals)."
Condensation (inversion) trace. Condensation trails are white streaks left by airplanes in the sky. By their nature, they are a condensed mist consisting of moisture in the atmosphere and engine exhaust gases. Most often, these traces are short-lived - they simply evaporate under the influence of high temperatures. However, some of them descend into the lower layers of the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds. Environmentalists believe that the condensation trails of aircraft transformed in this way have a negative impact on the planet's climate. Thin high-altitude cirrus clouds, which are obtained from modified aircraft tracks, impede the passage of sunlight and, as a result, lower the temperature of the planet, unlike ordinary cirrus clouds, which are able to retain the heat of the earth.
Rocket exhaust trail. Air currents in the high layers of the atmosphere deform the contrails of space rockets, and particles of exhaust gases refract sunlight and paint the tracks in all the color of the rainbow. Huge, multi-colored curls stretch for several kilometers across the sky before evaporating.
Polarization. Polarization is the orientation of the electromagnetic oscillations of a light wave in space. Light polarization occurs when light strikes a surface at a certain angle, is reflected, and becomes polarized. Polarized light also travels freely in space like normal sunlight, but the human eye is generally unable to pick up color tints as the polarization intensifies. This photo, taken with a wide-angle lens with a polarizing filter, shows the intense blue that electromagnetic charge gives the sky. We can see such a sky only through the camera filter.
Star trail. The "star trail" invisible to the naked eye can be captured with the camera. This shot was taken at night with a tripod-mounted camera with the lens at full aperture and over 1 hour exposure. The photo shows the "movement" of the starry sky - the natural change in the position of the Earth as a result of rotation makes the stars "move". The only fixed star is Polaris, which points to the astronomical North Pole.
Zodiacal light. The diffused glow of the night sky, created by sunlight reflected from particles of interplanetary dust, is also called zodiacal light. Zodiac light can be observed in the evening in the west or in the morning in the east.
Crown. Crowns, or crowns, are small colored rings around the Sun, Moon, or other bright objects that are seen from time to time when the light source is behind translucent clouds. The corona occurs when light is scattered by small water droplets of water, forming a cloud. Sometimes the crown looks like a luminous spot (or halo) surrounding the Sun (or Moon), which ends in a reddish ring. During eclipses, it is the crown that surrounds the darkened sun.
Twilight rays. Twilight rays are diverging beams of sunlight that become visible due to their illumination of dust in the high layers of the atmosphere. The shadows from the clouds form dark streaks, and beams spread between them. This effect occurs when the Sun is low on the horizon before sunset or after sunrise.
The optical effect caused by the refraction of light when passing through layers of air of different densities is expressed in the appearance of a deceptive image - a mirage. Mirages can be seen in hot climates, especially in deserts. The smooth surface of the sand in the distance becomes like an open source of water, especially when viewed from a dune or hill into the distance. A similar illusion arises in the city on a hot day, on the asphalt heated by the rays of the sun. In fact, the "water surface" is nothing more than a reflection of the sky. Sometimes mirages show entire objects at a great distance from the observer.
Columns of light. Flat ice crystals reflect light in the upper atmosphere and form vertical columns of light, as if emanating from the earth's surface. The light sources can be the Moon, the Sun or artificial lights.
And this phenomenon, which the inhabitants of the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, once observed, defies any classification.
But a truly mesmerizing sight!