Cloud Collective

Nature; No Photoshop required.

this atmospheric phenomenon is known as a circumhorizontal arc, which occurs when the sun is at least 58° above the horizon and the hexagonal ice crystals which form cirrus clouds become horizontally aligned.                     

photos by (click pic) bryce bradford, daniel m shihi, orne veien, brooke anderson, brian plonka, lisa gonnelli and angel villanueva near california’s vandenberg aerospace station, which actually shows refraction through a rocket trail.

Amazing Ice Halo Display

This incredible image shows a the sun adorned with a glittering halo - a rare phenomenon called a ‘sun dog’. It was taken in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy by NASA solar physicist David Hathaway in Huntsville, Alabama.

The apparition is almost certainly connected to hurricane Sandy. The core of the storm swept well north of Alabama, but Sandy’s outer bands did pass over the area, leaving behind a thin haze of ice crystals in cirrus clouds. Sunlight shining through the crystals produced an unusually rich variety of ice halos.

 The effect is generated byplate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or, during very cold weather, by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low levels.

A sun dog, scientific name parhelion from Greek ‘beside the sun’, creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun. Sun dogs may appear as a colored ball of light to the left or right of the sun and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world and are most dazzling when the sun is low.