[cdt-l] [at-l] Optical Phenomenon

[Ginny & Jim Owen]

I think it was a corona.  Glories are at the antisolar point.  We were 
looking directly at the sun.  There is a picture on one of the links you 
sent that is much closer to what we saw.
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/rainbows/notabow.htm

Thanks.
Ginny



-----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/







>From: "David Addleton" <dfaddleton at gmail.com>
>To: "Ginny & Jim Owen" <spiritbear2k at hotmail.com>
>CC: cdt-l at mailman.backcountry.net, at-l at mailman.backcountry.net
>Subject: Re: [at-l] Optical Phenomenon
>Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:26:28 -0400
>
>the glory perhaps?
>
>http://www.wonderquest.com/rainbow-circle.htm
>*
>Q: **While looking out of the window on an airplane flight, I often see a
>circle of colors with the shadow of the airplane at its center. Can you
>describe what this is?* --Beverly L.
>
>* Q: When I was flying through clouds today, our plane's shadow in the
>clouds below had a circular rainbow tightly around it. It wasn't just from
>one angle, and it was there for many miles. Why is that?* --Ben R., 
>Buffalo,
>NY
>
>*A: *The phenomenon you saw is called a glory.
>Click<http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/glorair.htm>for an image.
>We
>air travelers often see bright rings around the plane's shadow whenever the
>plane flies in the sunshine above the clouds, if the sun is behind us. The
>sun must be behind us, like it is when we watch a rainbow, so that cloud
>droplets can scatter the light into colors and bend them back to our eyes.
>
>Most people see only one ring. The glory, however, can show many rings when
>the clouds are made of uniform water droplets. Sometimes the rings 
>fluctuate
>wildly in size. This happens when the plane skirts a canyon of clouds and
>its shadow comes and goes.
>
>You ask why. We do not know. We can predict glories using a complicated
>mathematical model (the Mie theory); we can create glories in the 
>laboratory
>but we do not understand the physics behind the phenomenon.
>
>Here's what we do know: The tiny drops of water found in clouds change the
>direction and amplitude of light waves passing through. The size of cloud
>droplets is typically about 10 micrometers: the size of a red blood cell 
>and
>ten times the wavelength of light. The angular size of the glory (usually,
>less than 5 to 10 degrees across) depends on the size of the drops or
>crystals: the smaller the drops, the bigger and fuzzier the rings. Glories
>polarize light, which implies their origin involves at least one 
>reflection.
>
>We think that glories are created like this: a droplet back scatters light
>as the light goes around the droplet periphery. Each minute drop shines
>uniformly with a ring of light. The glistening rings from the all the cloud
>droplets generate the glory.
>
>*Further Surfing:*
>
>Les Cowley: Atmospheric optics, glories--fantastic
>images<http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/droplets/glorair.htm>
>
>Seeing the whole-circle 
>rainbow<http://www.wonderquest.com/rainbow-circle.htm>,
>WonderQuest
>
>Why the second rainbow colors are
>backwards<http://www.wonderquest.com/big-eyes-2nd-rainbow-neutron-star.htm>,
>WonderQuest
>
>How rainbows 
>form<http://www.wonderquest.com/rainbow-coffee-grounds-batteries.htm>,
>WonderQuest
>
>What a rainbow looks like to a
>dinosaur<http://www.wonderquest.com/reptiles-flu-gravitons.htm>,
>WonderQuest
>
>Why the * inside* of a rainbow is
>bright<http://www.wonderquest.com/rainbows.htm>,
>WonderQuest
>
>
>
>On 3/16/07, Ginny & Jim Owen <spiritbear2k at hotmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>I have a question -
>>Today as we drove down the highway near Datil, NM, just before sundown, we
>>observed something neither of us has ever seen before.  It was a clear
>>afternoon, not a cloud in the sky.  As we drove through the mountains, the
>>sun fell behind a small peak.  Light from the sun shone all around the
>>peak.
>>   However the light wasn't white, or orange - it was a perfect round
>>rainbow, circling the mountain.  As we drove on, the sun appeared in part,
>>but the rainbow circle remained.  It was really quite cool.  A few minutes
>>later we passed behind a ridge and when we went beyond it, the sun was
>>again
>>in the sky with a normal white light around it.  About ten minutes later
>>the sun went down and there was a slight orangy sunset.
>>
>>So the question is, does anyone know what that kind of solar rainbow halo
>>is
>>called?  Has anyone seen one?
>>
>>Ginny
>>
>>PS - for CDT-l - there is snow in the hills near Pie Town ;-)
>>
>>
>>
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