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Credit & Copyright: Alexandros Maragos
Explanation:
What's happened to the sky?
Several common features of the
daytime sky
are interacting in uncommon ways.
First, well behind the
silhouetted hills, is the typically bright
Sun.
In front of the Sun are thin clouds,
possibly the home to a layer of
hexagonal ice crystals that together are creating the
22 degree halo of light
surrounding the Sun.
The unusual bent line that crosses the image is a
contrail -- a type of cloud
created by a passing airplane.
Much of the
contrail must actually be
further away than the thin cloud because it casts a shadow onto the cloud,
giving an unusual
three-dimensional
quality to the featured image.
The
featured
image was taken in late January in the
city of
Patras in West
Greece.
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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: halo
Publications with words: halo
See also: