The Glory
Explanation:
Looking out the window of an airplane,
you might be lucky enough to see "the glory"
in the direction directly opposite the Sun.
Before
airplanes, the phenomenon, known to some as the
heiligenschein or the
Specter of the Brocken, was sometimes seen from mountaintops.
There, when conditions were right, one could
look away from the Sun
and see what appeared to be the
shadow of a giant
surrounded by a bright
halo.
The giant turns out to be the observer,
as in the modern version a
silhouette of an plane
frequently occupies the glory's center.
Pictured above, several concentric rings of
the glory were photographed.
The
cause of the glory has only been understood
recently and is relatively complex.
Briefly, small droplets of water
reflect,
refract, and
diffract sunlight backwards towards the
Sun.
The
phenomenon has similar counterparts in
other branches of science including
astronomy, where the
looking out from the Earth
in the direction opposite the Sun yields a bright spot called
the gegenschein.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
