Astronomy Picture of the Day
    


A Pileus Iridescent Cloud Over Ethiopia
<< Yesterday 24.08.2011 Tomorrow >>
A Pileus Iridescent Cloud Over Ethiopia
Credit & Copyright: Esther Havens (Light the World)
Explanation: Yes, but how many dark clouds have a multicolored lining? Pictured, behind this darker cloud, is a pileus iridescent cloud, a group of water droplets that have a uniformly similar size and so together diffract different colors of sunlight by different amounts. The above image was taken just after the picturesque sight was noticed by chance by a photographer in Ethiopia. A more detailed picture of the same cloud shows not only many colors, but unusual dark and wavy bands whose origins are thought related to wave disturbances in the cloud.

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
 < August 2011  >
Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa Su
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031



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.

Based on Astronomy Picture Of the Day

Publications with keywords: clouds - color
Publications with words: clouds - color
See also:
All publications on this topic >>