Late Afternoon Rainbow, August 8, 2011

After a late thunderstorm yesterday, there was an incredible rainbow in the east as the sun was setting. I was unable to photograph all of it because of the amount of sky it covered. The northern portion of the bow, although fairly faint, was visible from about 500-800 feet up and extended all the way up and across the sky to an elevation of at least 75 to 80 degrees, but then appeared to be obstructed by clouds. I think it was actually that the sun was so low in the sky that the prismatic phenomnenon of the sun shining through water droplets did not occur. The southern portion of the bow was mostly obscured except for the lowest portion which was extremely brilliant and presented a double bow image. Because I was driving and had access only to my cell phone camera, I was unable to get photos. When I could, I pulled off the road and got the southernmost part that, by the time I could photograph it, looked more like a sun dog than a rainbow. I have never seen such intense colors. The "trail" to the left of the the bow fragment is not a camera effect, but the brightness of the sky.The double portion of the bow is faintly visible to the right. This photo does not do justice to the brilliance of the light and color. It was made from the side of the road through the windshield of the van. Apologies for light poles, power lines, car interior, etc. When I tried getting shots out the car window, I got more street "stuff," gave up and just took what I could. Of the several photos I took, this one shows the intensity of the color of the bow the best. Click to enlarge.

Sun Pillar Sighting

This evening while sitting outside enjoying a banana split at a local ice cream shop, I began looking for sun dogs as the sun was setting. I didn't see any, but on the way home I did get a real surprise when I spotted a sun pillar. For more information check the Atmospheric Optics site.

Sundog (Parhelion) Information

For those of you who want more information on sundogs (parhelia, Latin for "beside the sun") check out the Atmospheric Optics website http://www.atoptics.co.uk. Look for the topic "Ice Halos" and also try "Search-Index." The site features many kinds of atmospheric optical phenomena with explanations and wonderful photographs. If you decided to search for sundogs, be sure to shield your eyes from the sun.

As astronomer Jack Horkheimer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Horkheimer:_Star_Gazer and http://www.starhustler.com/) used to say, "Keep looking up!"

Morning Sky

This morning I had an opportunity to see some iridescent clouds on the way to Gunter's Landing near Guntersville at about 6:30. I had watched the sky as the sun was rising, but I was driving and really had to be careful. I was treated to some really good color just before turning into the Gunter's Landing drive, but could not make photos. I stopped as soon as I could, but the color was less intense and, as usual, I only had my phone to make the pictures. The iridescent area is in the lower center of the photo, below and just above the darker, thinner gray cloud that was at a lower altitude. The colors ran the visible light spectrum, with each cloud exhibiting a rainbow effect, but by the time I could make the photo, I knew my little camera probably would not be able to pick them up. Clicking on the photo might give a better look at the colors.

Iridescent clouds are similar to nacreous clouds, but not as intense. Check out the Atmospheric Optics website for more information on all sorts of neat things and great photos.

June 29 Sundog

It's hard to see, but the faint, vertical smudge just above the trees in the center of the photo is the sundog we spotted yesterday coming home from a late afternoon excursion. The color of the actual parhelion was much more red and a bit prismatic. It is difficult to get good photos of these things with my little camera, but sometimes it surprises me and one turns out pretty good. I thought this one was quite impressive to the naked eye. The sun is the bright spot at the far right margin. You might get a better look if you click on the photo.

Sundog Sequence

We spotted a sundog while driving home from Scottsboro the other day (2/26/10). It was late in the afternoon and the sun was setting. I'd told my son to be on the lookout and, luckily, one was spotted. It started out as just a small bright spot, but as the sun got lower in the sky, the sundog became larger and the colors more intense. Finally, the sun became too low in the sky and the sundog faded. We had the camera with us, so my son did photographic duty while I drove.



Here you see the setting sun to the far right and the sundog at the far left.





In a short time, it had increased in size and intensity.





My son zoomed in and got a little better shot of the colors.




After a short time the colors began to fade.







Zooming in for a last look a little closer, you can see how much the colors have faded and the sundog has stretched out.




It was a real treat for the end of the day.

December Sundog

I found a couple of photos that we took of the sundog we saw in December when we went to the Christmas tree farm to pick out a tree. The photo quality is not great and the sundog was a small one, but you can see it right in the center of the photo with the sun creating the bright blur in the upper left corner.



Here's another with the sundog in the upper left corner. My daughter and her friend are shielding their eyes from the sun in order to look at the sundog. Looks like they are saluting it.






We got some photos of another sundog yesterday afternoon on the way back from Scottsboro, Alabama. I hope to get those posted soon.

Sundogs

The photo with the Einstein quote that I've added under the header of the blog shows an example of an optical phenomenon in the atmosphere known as a parhelion, commonly known as a sundog.




Lately I've been on a quest for sundogs. Until recently I never realized that they are a common occurrence. I've seen them numerous times in the past, but now I'm on the lookout for them almost daily. My quest began when we spotted one the afternoon we went to the Christmas tree farm to get our tree. The one we saw looked a bit like the one in the photo just below. Someone asked how they formed and I said it was the result of sunlight reflecting off of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. I went home and did an internet search and found out all sorts of interesting things about atmospheric optics. An added bonus was all the beautiful photos accompanying the information I found.






Sundogs (parhelia) look like rainbows that get confused and form out to the sides of the sun instead of opposite it, but they aren't rainbows at all. They form when sunlight passes through plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high cirrus clouds. I found these photos on Flickr. Thanks to everyone for their beautiful photos (lucycat, matthetube, and donsutherland1, and to anyone else I might have omitted through oversight). For more information and lots of photos, check out Atmospheric Optics www.atopics.co.uk
















If you decide to go sundog spotting, be sure not to look directly into the sun. Block the sun with your hand or an object such as a chimney, light post, water tower, or the edge of a building. Here is an example of an easy way to block the sun.





I've spotted about six in as many weeks since beginning my quest. My own efforts at photographing them has not been successful. Maybe someone in the family will give me a better camera for Mother's Day or my birthday (hint, hint). Here are two of my attempts to use the camera on my cell phone to photograph a sundog at sunset. As you can see, it did not work; I just got some not-so-great sunset photos. I tried photo editing to bring out the sundog, but that didn't work either. [BTW--there really was a sundog.] A few days after this sighting, we saw a sun pillar (check out Atmospheric Optics for info) on the way to Guntersville. It was only a little earlier in the day with sun a bit higher in the sky. I didn't even try to photograph it.