|
Credit & Copyright: Nagy Attila
Explanation:
Have you ever seen a halo around the Sun?
This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny
ice crystals cover much of the sky.
Each
ice crystal acts like a
miniature lens.
Because
most
of the crystals have a similar elongated
hexagonal
shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting
through the opposing face refracts 22
degrees,
which corresponds to the radius of the Sun halo.
A similar Moon halo
may be visible during the night.
Pictured above, a nearly complete
sun halo was photographed high above the ancient
Bayon temple in
Angkor,
Cambodia.
Exactly how
ice-crystals form in clouds remains under
investigation.
|
January February March April May June July August September October November December |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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: