strange rainbow?

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msbee
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strange rainbow?

#1 Postby msbee » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:24 pm

THis morning in St. Maarten we saw this in the sky:
Image


The local radio announced it and many people on the island were out looking at it.
I guess it is a form of a rainbow but it sure was strange.
and it happened just as the white smoke was coming and the bells were ringing in Rome, announcing a new Pope.
It was a weird coincidence!
:roll:
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#2 Postby chadtm80 » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:26 pm

wow.. Very starnge in deed.. Kind of looks like a real close up of the moon from behind a cloud or something ( I know it's not) Would of loved to see it in person
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#3 Postby x-y-no » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:28 pm

It's called a "solar halo." Caused by refraction of sunlight though ice crystals in the stratosphere.

Not terribly unusual, but that does seem to be a very pronounced example.
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#4 Postby cycloneye » Tue Apr 19, 2005 1:31 pm

Yes that is Halo as the high cirrus clouds are of crystals.They are beautiful to watch but only for a few seconds.
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#5 Postby msbee » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:05 pm

I found out that it is indeed a halo.
also called a mock or dog sun?
someone sent me this url and picture.
http://www.geocities.com/~kcdreher/mcsundog.html
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#6 Postby cyclonaut » Tue Apr 19, 2005 2:48 pm

Magnificent!!!
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#7 Postby Lindaloo » Tue Apr 19, 2005 3:07 pm

Well whatever it is called it sure is neat!! Thanks for sharing that msbee, truly amazing!!
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#8 Postby P.K. » Tue Apr 19, 2005 4:58 pm

msbee wrote:also called a mock or dog sun?


Sun dogs are found either side of the sun as shown in the image below:

Image
Image

:)
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#9 Postby MSRobi911 » Tue Apr 19, 2005 11:16 pm

Nice pic msbee...thanks for posting. You learn something new every day!!

Mary
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#10 Postby msbee » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:50 am

yes,Mary, I learn somehtimng new evey day too.
thanks P.K. for the information about a sun dog.
Barbara
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#11 Postby abajan » Fri Apr 22, 2005 9:41 pm

x-y-no wrote:It's called a "solar halo." Caused by refraction of sunlight though ice crystals in the stratosphere.

Not terribly unusual, but that does seem to be a very pronounced example.


Yes, I've seen them here in Barbados before but never so striking as the one above.

Oddly enough, I think we had a halo here on the 19th too. I guess there was a lot of cirrus stratus in the eastern Caribbean on that day or something.
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#12 Postby Stormsfury » Sat Apr 23, 2005 6:24 am

That's a very pronounced halo for anywhere.
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#13 Postby msbee » Sat Apr 23, 2005 7:08 am

this is an even better picture that someone else in St. Maarten took and posted on Storm Caribe.

Image
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