Colours in the Atmosphere
Sun, Sky, and Clouds
Irdescent Clouds, Aureoles
Blue Aureole
Rainbow
Circumzenithal Arc
Parhelia and Halos
Halos
Light Pillars
Sun, Sky, and Clouds
These two pictures of the setting sun have been taken within few seconds. Due to overexposition, the red sun appears white in the left picture. Only if the exposition time is so short that almost all the rest of the sky is black in the picture, the camera renders the sun's colour similar to the visual impression (right hand side).
If there is haze or sufficiently dense dust in the air, the light of the setting sun may be damped so strongly that a photograph can reproduce its colour satisfactorily. Then, the sun appears orange or, if the air is more turbid, even pink. (The bluish grey of the scattered light / colour of the sky surrounding the sun added to the orange-coloured light coming straight from the sun yields pink.)
Sunset behind distant trees on a hazy day.
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| Clouds and haze | | Photos (2) © H. Zawischa |
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| After sunset | | |
Colourful sunset over the Baltic Sea Photo © H. Zawischa
Before sunrise (Oderberg, 28. July. 2006, 4:50 CEST):
Back to the section on "scattering".
Lunar eclipse, February 21, 2008
Left: The moon before entering the earth's shadow. Middle: 3:59 o'clock CET, before being completely in the deepest shadow, the moon is visible through a thin cloud. Right: 4:05 CET, in the deepest shadow, briefly before being completely hidden by the clouds getting more dense.
Photographs taken in Wunstorf (near Hannover, Germany).
Back to the text "scattering - lunar eclipse".
Iridescent Clouds
Left:
Clouds, July 30, 2005 near Hannover, 18:34 CEST.
Right: Enlarged detail.
At small angular distanse from the sun the thin clouds dazzle in nacreous colours.
Clouds, August 2, 2005, 18:35 CEST near Hannover.
Wunstorf, October 29, 2005, 10:20 CEST
Back to the text "Diffraction / Iridescent Clouds"
Quite often one can see the sun through thinner clouds sufficiently faint so that photographs can be taken. The immediate vicinity of the sun is bluish, even if there is no otherwise well developed aureole.
August 8, 2005, 14:06 and 16.02 CEST.
Left: 27. August 27, 2005, 12:15, Right: September 15, 2005, 13:31 CEST
Back to the text on diffraction / blue aureole.
Rainbows
Rainbow, summer 1978, Carinthia.
On a
larger image the supernumerary bows can be seen.
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| Wunstorf, May 31th 2005, 19:28 CEST | | Wunstorf, April 2nd 2006, 16:54 CEST |
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Hannover, May 23rd 2006, 20:38 CEST
| | Hannover, Maschsee-fountain. August 17th 2006, 18:51 CEST
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Hannover,
August 29th 2006, 19:34 CEST (solar altitude 5.6º). Panorama mounting: AutoStitch.
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| Wunstorf, October 7th 2006, 17:45 CEST | | Wunstorf, February 28th 2007, 17:42 CET |
Hannover, July 4th 2007, 20:55 CEST
Back to the section "Rainbow"
Circumzenithal Arcs
CZA in Hannover, June 20th 2005.
Circumzenithal arc seen in Hannover, June 20th 2005. Inconspicuous in the beginning, it changed rapidly with the motion of the clouds. After about half an hour the clouds became more dense and the arc gradually disappeared. Fotos © D. Zawischa.
On November 2nd 2005 there was (in Wunstorf, at a solar altidute of 20.5º) a CZA visible for three minutes only:
Wunstorf, October 9th 2006: a CZA appears, fades after some time and reappears. The images capture the brightest moments:
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Wunstorf, October 11th 2006, 11:27 CEST | Wunstorf, May 20th 2007, 19.02 CEST
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Wunstorf, May 31st 2007, 18:27 CEST |
Back to section "Circumzenithal Arcs"
Parhelia
Left: Sundog, Hannover, June 22nd 2005, 20:42 CEST.
Right: Detail.
Left: Wunstorf (near Hannover), July 10th 2005, 19:27 CEST.
Right: Detail.
Left: Wunstorf, July 28th 2005, 19:49 CEST
Right: Wunstorf, August 28th 2005, 13:30 CEST, solar altitude 47.3º. Due to slight overexposition, the colours are fainter than they actually were.
Left: Wunstorf, September 14th 2005, 10:14 CEST
Right: Wunstorf, October 27th 2005, 16:14 CEST
Wunstorf, August 19th 2006, 19:34 CEST
Back to the section "Parhelia"
22º-Halo and Tangent Arc
Left: Upper tangent arc (and 22º-Halo), Wunstorf, August 28th, 2005, ca. 13:40 CEST (solar altitude 47.2º)
Right: 22º-Halo. Wunstorf, August 28th 2005, 16:30 o'clock.
Upper tangent arc and 22º-Halo, Wunstorf, September 13th 2005.
Left: 13:36 CEST
Right: 15:20.
Left: Upper tangent arc and part of 22º-Halo, Wunstorf, November 2nd 2005, 8:33 CET, solar altitude 8.8º. Right: Upper tangent arc, 22º-Halo and weak left sundog, Wunstorf, May 30th 2006, 19:52 CEST (solar altitude 12.5º)
22°-Halo, Upper Tangent Arc and 46°-Halo
 | | Wunstorf, January 23rd 2007,
12:37 CET
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Light Pillar
Wunstorf, September 19, 2008, 19:39 CEST.
The Sun is already 1.9º below the horizon and shines at the lower side of the clouds. Ice crystals in the shape of flat hexagonal prisms float in the clouds and tend to orient their basis plane horizontally. They reflect the sunlight forming a light pillar.
The geometry is much the same as in the formation of a column of light on a rough water surface (right picture), turned upside down.
Left: Wunstorf, April 27th 2006, 20:41 CEST.
Right: Hannover, July 12th 2006, 22:01 CEST.
The light of the setting sun (left) or the sun already 3º below the horizon (r.h.s.) is mirrored in horizontally aligned platelike ice crystals forming a light pillar.
Back to the text "Parhelia"
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Hannover,
August 29th 2006, 19:34 CEST (solar altitude 5.6º). Panorama mounting: AutoStitch.
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Hannover, July 4th 2007, 20:55 CEST
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The Sun is already 1.9º below the horizon and shines at the lower side of the clouds. Ice crystals in the shape of flat hexagonal prisms float in the clouds and tend to orient their basis plane horizontally. They reflect the sunlight forming a light pillar.
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