Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dciem.UUCP Path: utzoo!dciem!mmt From: mmt@dciem.UUCP (Martin Taylor) Newsgroups: net.physics Subject: Re: Strange Phenomena & colors in the sky Message-ID: <740@dciem.UUCP> Date: Sat, 25-Feb-84 15:55:17 EST Article-I.D.: dciem.740 Posted: Sat Feb 25 15:55:17 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 25-Feb-84 17:22:49 EST References: <1199@ucf-cs.UUCP> Organization: D.C.I.E.M., Toronto, Canada Lines: 22 There was an excellent article on the various halos and rays that can occur in the presence of high-level ice clouds in American Scientist about a year ago (the cover picture shows a spectacular example). I don't have the actual reference right now. I seem to remember that Scientific American also had an article soem years back. When I was a teenager I saw a spectacular series of halos and rays that I sketched. The sketch still exists. There were two circular halos centred on the sun, whose height was around 30 deg. I don't know the diameter, but the inner halo grazed the horizon and the outer one nearly reached the zenith. There were two sun-centred rays, one horizontal and one vertical. At each intersection of a ray with a halo there was a sun-dog that seemed almost as bright as the sun itself (obviously wasn't, physically). Extending from each sun-dog away from the sun was a parabolic halo. I always called it the day of the seven suns when I referred to it. Since I had just come to Canada from England, I thought it was a regular feature of the Canadian skies, but I've never seen anything approaching it since. -- Martin Taylor {allegra,linus,ihnp4,uw-beaver,floyd,ubc-vision}!utzoo!dciem!mmt