Awesome Sky Phenomenon

(maybe mods can move this to fragile earth? - :lol

Hello all,

Here is a collection of rather beautiful "Atmospheric Optics"and "Cloud Types". all Naturally occurring phenomena in our skies. Some rarer than others. theres lots on this site, so I just listed a few.

ATMOSPHERIC OPTICS

Atmospheric optics is a collective name for everything having to do with light and color in the atmosphere, which includes subjects on the ground. Of all this, everybody knows the rainbow; other examples are the sunset colors, the flattening of the low sun, the occasional solar rays, and the light curtains of Aurora.

22 DEGREE HALO
[img][/img]

A halo around the sun or moon with a radius of 22 degrees, caused by refraction of light by randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals. This halo is very common; pieces of it may be seen on 200 days per year

LIGHT PILLAR
[img][/img]

A light pillar can sometimes be seen above the sun when it is setting or rising. It is caused by reflection of light off the base of horizontally aligned plate ice crystals in the atmosphere. The extend of the pillar is usually only a few degrees. More rarely, it is as much as 20 degrees or more

SOLAR RAYS
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Solar and antisolar rays are caused by light scattering, and so there should be plenty of aerosols in the air (i.e. the air must not be too crystal clear). A slightly hazy sky makes for good opportunities to see these rays

GLITTER PATH
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A seemingly trivial, yet interesting effect of the sunlight reflecting off a water surface with ripple waves on it, creating a light path on the water from the horizon down to the observer.

BROCKEN SPECTRE
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The Brocken spectre is named after a region in Germany where the phenomenon is observed frequently. The Brocken spectre is your shadow projected onto and in a cloud, like fog. Due to perspective misleading you in estimating dimensions, the shadow will look much bigger than you are

CLOUDS

HORSHOE VORTICES

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Horseshoe-vortices are one of the more bizarre cloud forms. They can form if there is a lot of vorticity (a measure of rotation) in the air. Shallow cumulus is ideal for the formation of horseshoe-vortices, although the vortices are rare nevertheless. The vortices form when the small cumulus updraft interacts with the surrounding air and forms a dipole vortex; if the cumulus is small it will dissipate quicker than the spinning vortex so the leftover vortex is seen at the top of the cumulus. The vortex stays visible longer since the vortex interacts (mixes) less well with the ambient air

MAMMATUS
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Mammatus occurs whenever there is a conditionally unstable cloud layer above clear air: when an air parcel from this cloud layer descends into the clear air below, the cloud particles such as snow crystals and water droplets evaporate, cooling down the air parcel and making it descend even faster. A blob of cloud material is dragged down, creating the pouch of cloud

CUMULUS CONGESTUS
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A convective cloud that shows large vertical extend, but has not yet reached the precipitation stage. Congestus is Latin for "piled-up". Congestus can show nice crepuscular rays when the sky is a bit hazy and scatters sunlight well

CAP CLOUD
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A mountain top is sometimes capped by a more or less smooth cloud. This cap cloud is related to lenticularis, but forms directly over the mountaintop as opposed to lenticularis, that may form at middle altitudes above the mountain. A cap cloud is formed when humid air (maybe moistened by the mountain terrain) is forced to flow over the mountain, condensing into a cloud

ROLL CLOUD
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Storms are sometimes accompanied by arcus, a roll cloud. Cold air rushes out of a downdraft and lifts warmer air in front of the storm complex up to condensation level, making both a fascinating and menacing sight while it is approaching at high velocity

There you have it folks. Some spectacular occurances in our skies! The website is worth visiting as there are hundreds more on here and lots more to read too.

I've seen only a few of these myself, the most bizarre being the "MAMMATUS" clouds, here in New Zealand. Very cool!

Please feel free to add more or to share your personal experiences with these beautiful occurances!

www.weatherscapes.com...

G.





[edit on 1-12-2009 by grantbeed]

[edit on 1-12-2009 by grantbeed]

Well, the first picture is what we call a 'ChemBow', you even see the trails left from other planes in the air there, 3 of them, if Im not mistaking..

Cool pictures, I have shiat load's of those 'bows'' if you wanna look..

reply to post by ChemBreather


A chembow for sure.

Be good to see some of yer pics for sure.

I dont think the chemtrails are beautiful. It makes me sick to see everyday almost now accept it seems sunday is a day off.
Trees are dying and food is being poluted along with we the people.

reply to post by saralee


well thats a topic for another post! But, I still think the natural phenomenon are beautiful though.

Originally posted by grantbeed
reply to post by ChemBreather

 

A chembow for sure.

Be good to see some of yer pics for sure.

I get some up for you, will take some time though, I need to shrink the pics since they are so humangous in size..

reply to post by ChemBreather


No worries! The awesome thing is, even though certain photos may be of the same thing, they can still be completely unique.

Some awesome sunsets here in New Zealand. I stand out and watch it all the time. Changing shape and colour every second. Amazing!

Hey, I post some cool pics.
I havent been able to digg up the ones I wanted, but.
Ill keep looking, but look at these for now..

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c6882920e3ad.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/639f3742284e.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/05ab23b1c8d6.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f186a91454db.jpg[/atsimg]

Those images are truly amazing! Just last night as I was about to go to bed I took a quick last look through my telescope at the moon because it was a full moon. I saw an amazing sight. It was the moon surrounded by a spectacularly bright HALO. The moon was almost directly above myself with a very bright multi-colored, prism like, HALO extending about three inches and encircling the moon itself. It was a beautiful sight to see. I attempted to take a photograph of the phenomenon but the camera (Olympus E400 series) was unable to catch the awesome sight. Too bad because it would have made an amazing addition to my moon photos...Maybe next time.

LifENcircleS

Nice presentation OP. S&F for your efforts!

I dont know what i would think If I had ever seen of those horseshoe vortices before this. What an amazing site that would be.

It makes you wonder how many more natural weather phenoms are out there waiting to be discovered.

Originally posted by saralee
I dont think the chemtrails are beautiful. It makes me sick to see everyday almost now accept it seems sunday is a day off.
Trees are dying and food is being poluted along with we the people.

How can you tell it's a chemtrail from just that photo? It looks just like a normal contrail to me (which is not pollution, but water vapor).

...back on topic, there are also "wave clouds"
neatorama.cachefly.net...

and "punch-hole clouds"
myamazingfact.blogspot.com...


[edit on 12/1/2009 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by ChemBreather


cheers for posting these. the 3rd one down is very cool. are these your own shots?

reply to post by LifENcircleS


cool stuff. a moon halo. pity you didnt get a pic! isnt it awesome how theres something to see thats amazing most days.

most people have their eyes closed all the time!!

reply to post by VonDoomen


cheers! yeh , the horseshoe vortices are very strange and cool. would be good to capture one. never seen one before.

Originally posted by grantbeed

BROCKEN SPECTRE

The Brocken spectre is named after a region in Germany where the phenomenon is observed frequently. The Brocken spectre is your shadow projected onto and in a cloud, like fog. Due to perspective misleading you in estimating dimensions, the shadow will look much bigger than you are

www.environmentalgraffiti.com...

That was great stuff grandbeed. I loved all the pictures specially the one with shadow and the second one where it seems that clouds are doing bombarding. While looking at the pictures I was thinking what does each picture represents. Just as I said that one cloud was bombarding , there was something like this in every picture which was fun to me.