Finnish Display 2nd September 2017

Kimmo Laitinen captured a nice display with Wegener arcs and a really strong lower tangent arc on the 2nd September 2017. I'll let Kimmo describe his observation in greater detail in his own words. 

He says, "we drove from Siilinjarvi to our summer house in Leppavirta via Kuopio. In Siilinjarvi the weather was sunny but before Kuopio a thin uniform layer of high clouds covered the sun and we spotted the first halos as we passed the city centre of Kuopio about 11.45.... At this point the 22 deg lower tangent arc was not so impressive and only a short section of the parhelic circle could be seen. Then we went on southward to the Puutossalmi cable ferry.... In Puutossalmi the 22 deg lower tangent arc was the most impressive and reflected nicely from the lake. After the ferry the 22 deg lower tangent arc disappeared but the parhelic circle became all the time longer and a very faint Wegener arc was seen by the naked eye. After driving a few km more southward the low clouds disappeared from the northern sky and the parhelic circle became complete about 12.30 in the village of Lansi-Saamainen in Leppävirta. The 120 deg parhelia were clearly visible and the intersection of the Wegener arcs with the parhelic circle was revealed from the images. After this the display got dimmer but still lasted for a few hours.

All images used by permission. © Kimmo Laitinen. 

Recent displays from Northwestern Russia

In this post I want to share some of my observations from last month, which I made in St Petersburg (from 15th April to 5th May) and in Pskov Oblast (from 7th May to present time). In total there were eleven displays, six of them comprising pyramidal halo forms. Many of these pyramidal displays were minor, so I will not present them.

20th April

The photo on left shows a purely odd-radius plate complex. There are only the upper 23 plate arc with its 23 halo and a couple of 18 plate arcs. On the photo on right you can see fragments of weak odd radius circular halos. Together with the broad 22 halo at the 02-00 position there is the 20 halo and also the diffuse 35 halo.

28th April

Together with classic halo forms in stacks pyramidal halos appeared with odd-radius plate arcs. On photos above you can see lower 24 plate arcs with the 24 halo and the 9 halo (with possible the lower 9 plate arc). The weak and diffuse upper 23 plate arc is also available.

30th April


In the morning there was a short display which lasted less than one hour. The display was not predicted by the meteogram, so maybe I missed most of the display, which was earlier that morning. In any case I saw bright parhelia with the colourful circumzenithal arc, and got in the stack the strong parhelic circle and the upper suncave Parry arc together with the nice upper tangent arc. I think it is the Parry arc, and not an upper 23 plate arc, because the display does not contain no other pyramidal halo forms, and the arc looks pretty sharp.

1st May

In the morning I observed the large and bright upper tangent arc for around one hour. Infralateral arcs were easily seen with naked eye. Together with bright parhelia I saw fragments of a parhelic circle. In stacks the rare Wegener arc was found.

5th May

On that day there was a protracted display, that lasted between six and sixteen hours. But my camera had recorded interesting halos only at the start, on the sunrise. It was an odd-radius circular complex which contained pyramid halos with radii 9, 18, 24 and 35 degrees. It seems the 24 halo included rudimentary upper and lower 24 plate arcs.

10th May

No rare halos on that morning but I saw the supralateral arc visually very well, that happens not often. A curious circumzenithal arc appeared a little later. The CZA was diffuse, that is not typical for this halo. 

Recent displays from St Petersburg, Russia

In this post, I'm including the most interesting displays observed during the last month.

14th March 2017

On that day, halos appeared in the morning in separate cirrus clouds. Their arrival was not predicted by the meteogram. When I looked out from the window, I saw a bright CZA, but when I came down, it had disappeared. Nevertheless, I could see the weak supralateral arc. Half an hour later, I also saw a nice infralateral arc, when the cirrus cloud reached the horizon.

29th March 2017

In the evening bright parhelion was detected, and then a little while later also the wide circumzenithal arc. The halos were produced by the anvil of a convection cell.

1st April 2017

In the morning, at 10-00, the sky was clear. But in the south-west direction, low over the horizon a lot of cirrus clouds were visible. Their arrival was extended for an hour and a half. When a border of a front of cirrus clouds started to arrive, I noticed that it was weak and almost transparent. When these weak clouds reached the sun, at first I did not notice any halos. But soon, some markers of sub-visual odd radius display appeared.

It was broad and undefined halo in 22° area, with pretty obvious upper 23° plate arc in some moments. In the reflection of my sunglasses these things were visible a lot better. These weak odd radius halos were visible for around a half of hour, or even more while the area of weak cirrus crossed the sun.

Then, on the right-hand side pretty bright 22° halo started to appear. It was the arrival of main part of cirrus. In that area clouds were common and solid. After few minutes both bright tangent arcs appeared. Lower tangent arc was brighter than upper. I also noticed big infralateral arc on the right-hand side. It was pretty weak, but well coloured. I could see the arc better when I used peripheral vision.

This peak of the display was rather lengthy, and during its course I also watched both 120° parhelia, parhelic circle (it was easily seen within 22° ring), and the top part of 46° halo (likely it was the combination of supralateral arc and 46 halo. Although both were weak, together they became visually visible).

The peak was interrupted when middle-level cloud started to arrive. Then I saw a couple times only bright 22° halo

7th April 2017

The display looked quite ordinary, so I was glad I detected pyramidal halos such as upper 23° plate arc and 9° column arc.

9th April 2017

On that day, there was only a weak 22° halo. But the stack discovered also 18° halo/18° plate arc

10th April 2017

It was the weak display, which lasted most of the day. There was no suspicion that there may be pyramidal halos. But still I got upper 23° plate, 18° plate arc and 9° halo in the stacks.

Halo Phenomena in Olaus Magnus’s Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (Part 2)

Halo phenomena in Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus, Bk. 1, Ch, 14. Image from www.avrosys.nu

The Swedish Olaus Magnus’s 16^th century Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (History of the Nordic Peoples) has several chapters and woodcuts dedicated to halos. The first part of our series introduced this medieval best-selling work, and concentrated on parhelia and paraselenae as described by Olaus. This time the halos of Book 1, Chapter 14 are to be introduced, which is the very first section of his work where he deals with halo phenomena. 

We don’t  know whether Olaus saw any halos in his life, though in Chapter 17, he notes that there were three suns and moons in the sky at the time of his birth. Besides classical natural historical authorities like Pliny the Elder, his information comes most probably from accounts collected during his journeys, which he later recorded according to his own understanding and imagination. He introduces halos as seasonal phenomena, which are connected to early spring and hardly last longer than two and a half hours. He does not even start the list of halo forms with the most frequent ones: the first halos that he describes are the parhelic circle and three patches on it which could be interpreted as the 120° parhelia and the anthelion.

“Up in the north when deep snow covers the earth round about the vernal equinox, circles sometimes appear with the following formation and position. The most spacious circle, spread over the horizon is entirely white, as also are three small circles, each hanging separately from its circumference; towards the east, however, these are distinguished by their yellow colour, as if they are trying to resemble the sun (…)”

Olaus then continues his presentation with the more frequent forms. The 22° halo, the parhelia and the upper tangent arc are easily recognizable, and so is the circumzenith arc. But what comes afterwards (a blackish rainbow and a dusky but colourful one) is more difficult to interpret. We could deduce from their position in the woodcut that he may be talking about supra- and infralateral arcs, but since the depiction and the description are not obvious and they contradict to what such arcs look like in reality, we should not draw further conclusions from them. Olaus’s description is typical of similar accounts: he presents events which took place over a longer stretch of time, disregarding the changes in halo forms as time passes, what is more, he probably never witnessed such halos in the sky.

“(…) and even the body of the sun can be surrounded by a corona or halo of rainbow hues, and has reddish likenesses of itself attached on either side. From these likenesses, or if you wish, from these two suns,  two semicircles, like bows, rise to intersect each other; eventually, after expanding as halos do, they vanish. Around the navel or centre of the most spacious of these circles can be seen an inverted rainbow, which gleams in a cloud of fine vapour. Next there appears another blackish rainbow, opposite to the first in colour and position. Afterwards this bow, dusky but ever varying in colour, as is customary with the celestial arc or rainbow, extends towards the south, crossing through the most spacious of the circles.” 

Vädersolstavlan by Jacob Heinrich Elbfas. Image from Wikipedia

The woodcut illustrating his chapter might look familiar to people interested in historical displays. It bears resemblance to Vädersolstavlan, an oil-on-panel painting by another Swedish man, Jacob Heinrich Elbfas. The painting is the 17^th century copy of the now lost original ordered by the Swedish reformer Olaus Petri, and created by Urban Målare. It shows the halos that appeared over Stockholm on 20 April 1535, 20 years before Olaus Magnus’s book was published. The country at this time was turning to the Lutheran faith, and religious reformation fuelled serious conflicts and controversies between the ruthless reformer king Gustav Vasa, and more moderate Protestants like Olaus Petri. Both parties saw a celestial sign in the appearance of this halo phenomenon, and we can easily deduce that the Catholic Church was also prone to interpreting the halo as a divine premonition. Olaus Magnus himself was the last Catholic archbishop of Uppsala, who had to live in exile for the rest of his life after Sweden had turned to the new religion. Although he does not mention the ominous 1535 Stockholm halo and its contemporary reception, but the striking similarity between the woodcut and Vädersolstavlan might indicate a conscious choice for deciding to start his description of halos in Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus with this very emblematic appearance.

Either influenced by his own fate, or due to contemporary superstitions, Olaus attributes bad omens to such halos. Much of his chapter elaborates on what misery they may bring. As he claims, they “always cause, either by their own nature or for some other, hidden reason, the worst consequences in the time immediately following them: for example, ominous thunderings and thunderbolts which throw houses and animals to the ground; capturing and killing of nobles and common folk, and pillaging of the people in that region, not to speak of enemy fleets, pirate raids, and acts of arson; and when the circles disappear at the end of spring, grains of suphur commonly rain down in a stinking mist.”

By Ágnes Kiricsi


English translation by Peter Fisher and Humphrey Higgens from: Olaus Magnus, A Description of the Northern Peoples, 1555, Vol. 1. Ed.: Peter Foote, Hakluyt Society, 1996.

Snow gun generated column display

On the night of 15th November 2016 (the night of the "supermoon") I was out of the city photographing the full Moon. The humidity was extremely high, which was evident by a huge aureola that was surrouding the Moon.

I was keeping an eye on webcams located at nearby ski centres, because the temperature was dropping below zero and snow coverage was scarce, therefore I was hoping for some snow gun action.

Few centres were operating the snow guns, but no diamond dust formation could be seen, so after a while I decided to return back to the city, but still keep an eye in case the conditions change. According to my previous post, Bílá ski centre is supposed to be the holy grail of diamond dust halos around here. But that is not true, there is another ski centre which generates diamond dust very frequently. I stayed up the whole night because I knew something would happen, and I was right, the ski centre I was talking about started generating halos, so I packed up my things and went again.

It is slightly further away than Bílá, so the trip took a while, but it was totally worth it:

This display, to my astonishment, was generated by a single snow gun (in the picture above it is located just behind the trees). No low hanging stratus, just high humidity and one snow gun. And it wasn't even on my previously planned location, it was actually a few kilometers ahead of it.

There are some indications of Parry oriented crystals, uppercave Parry is present and lowercave maybe too. indicated by a brightening on the circumscribed halo. Lowervex Parry was not seen. Wegener was maybe there, but the display itself was changing quite rapidly and I don't think my photos captured it.

Eventually I have decided to finish driving to my location. No halos there, and as I was returning, only faint and diffuse 22° halo was the only one left in the sky.

The crystal swarm was fairly thick, which can be seen in the main photo - the infralateral arcs were hanging in front of the forest. An amazing sight.

Fun addition: I had actually forgotten my gear at the location, and only realized it at home, so I had to return. It was still there!

The great 24 February 2017 halo display in Pskov region of Russia

In the evening, I looked at meteoblue's meteogram (like I do everyday), and saw on it plenty of high-level clouds, but at the same time together with middle-level clouds. At 09-30 I woke up that to check whether middle clouds would not allow observing halos.

I came out and saw that the sky indeed was pretty dirty and contained not only cirrus but also low and middle clouds. But above the sun were the central part of UTA and diffuse pillar. I could leisurely to prepare my camera before halos became brighter.

After a few minutes, UTA became seen pretty well. Viewing the sky I was very surprised to detect the supralateral arc to the left of the sun. The arc was not bright but it was clearly visible. It was weird to see such good halos in such dense clouds. Clouds from different levels merged with each other. So at first, I did not understand that it was a big display that penetrated through the gaps of the lower clouds.

After 10-15 minutes came a big gap in those clouds and I saw the full Supralateral arc which was noticeably brighter than previously. I already was very glad because the arc in this form I saw only on my screen when I processed stacks. And at the moment I saw it in the sky with my own eyes. However, this was only a prelude of what was to come.

Wegener arc, subhelic arc, and blue spot on parhelic circle

Around 11-00 the sky started to clear and above the supralateral arc and a nice circumzenithal arc appeared. In that moment I noticed to the west a bright fragment of the parhelic circle which was low over trees. Cirrus arrived from this direction. While I changed the direction of my camera's field of view, I noticed also the anthelion. High clouds arrived quickly, and they were very uniform and smooth. The brightness of halos quick started to accrue. I ran in my home in order to show the current display to my father, and during this couple of minutes the brightness of halos increased even more. I ran back to my camera, and in this moment halos became extremely bright! The upper tangent arc was very perfect and sharp. The supralateral arc was brighter than a common primary rainbow! Probably it reached such extreme brightness not only because crystals were perfect, but also because the sun elevation was almost optimal. The parhelic circle was also incredible and looked like jets of light. Wegener arc was visually visible as well. Its oblique wide lines pointed out on far and weak anthelion. Around anthelion from time to time X-shaped arc was visible.

Near sun there are 9° halo together 9° column arcs

All sky view. Near anthelion there is Tricker arc

Anthelion and some of diffuse anthelic arcs

Upper tangent arc with diffuse upper 23° plate arc and sharp 24° column arcs. Thanks to M.Riikonen for the confirmation

Halos lasted in this bright form around 45 minutes. After the brightness of complex a few decreased, but all details continued were visually visible. I remember that I saw well crossing of Supra/Infra-lateral arcs on the parhelic circle. Also from time to time appeared 120° parhelia.

On the left there is 120° parhelion

At 13-10 was the end of this great display, only halos near the sun remained. Parhelia were most bright in this moment and seemed to me that near them were Lowitz arcs. But stacks showed that is not true.

High-Cloud Tricker from Hungary

January 16 brought a whole-day high-cloud display to the greatest part of Hungary. The morning started with a spectacular sunpillar with bright upper-tangent arc, and the phenomenon became more and more complex during the day. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the display was caught by Ernő Berkó. He saw a Tricker-arc in Ludányhalászi, Hungary.


As he explained, he started reading emails from other Hungarian observers about the beautiful sunpillar of the morning, but in his region, there was thick fog with a night temperature of -17 °C. At 12:10 UT the fog disappeared, and he discovered the upper-tangent arc and the then symmetrical (about 60 degree-long) supralateral arc above it. Both were slightly coloured. While he was making preparations to take photos, the clouds thickened and covered the view. Later the conditions turned better again, the right side of the upper tangent arc strengthened, and he could take photos from 13:15 for 25 more minutes with the supra reaching lower and lower. He could see that it got brighter at the place where the parhelic circle crossed the upper tangent arc. It was only later that he realised the infralateral arc was also a bit visible and this caused the brightening. Ernő Berkó was trying to discover other halo forms but until 13:20 there were no other arcs, not even a 22 degree halo. It was only after this that the 22° halo started brightening here and there; the clouds were not uniform at all. A few minutes later he caught sight of the halos at the anthelic point. What he saw was mostly of the time a white oval brightening only, but the Tricker-arc also appeared, and sometimes a faint X-shape was also visible, suggesting Greenler arcs. To the naked eyes. the parhelic circle was invisible at this region of the sky. Later on the phenomenon weakened as the clouds thickened again. Ernő said he felt lucky that some days earlier he had shovelled a path in the snow to the back of his garden (where otherwise his telescope is), as this was the place where he could take images without many disturbing objects in view…and he caught the Tricker here, too.



It was Csaba Kozsa, who managed to take a picture of the infralateral arc. He was also reading messages in the buzzing Hungarian forum of halo observers, so in the early afternoon he rushed to his favourite observation point: Visegrád’s hill, Kis-Villám. This is the closest elevation to his home with a good view to South-Southwest, and the 270m hill made it possible to take a photo of the infra. He says that up till this day he had had very little knowledge about complex halo phenomena, but thanks to the several observations on Monday and the explanations of more experienced observers, he now knows where to look and what to pay more attention to.

Anthelic arcs in Finland

On August 28th anthelic arcs appeared in the northern part of Finland. My coffee break was suddenly halted as watching from the window I noticed several arcs. Once outside my eye was first caught by well developed parhelic circle. Then, looking up I noticed a colourful Wegener arc. Colours were red on the bottom and blue on the upper part. In the later stage of the display I noticed faint X at the anthelion indicative of the diffuse/Tricker arcs. I had no camera but my friend borrowed his camera equipped cellphone. Image quality is quite poor, but halos are still recognizable. Also Parry arc and 120 parhelia were present. Other halos were 22halo, parhelia, 22 upper tangent arc, parhelic circle, circumzenith arc, infralateral arc and supralateral arc. The display was noticed over large areas in Finland. More photos is here. Also see the photos by Arto Oksanen and Panu Lahtinen

By Marko Mikkila

46° halo in Czech Republic

The April 21st 2007 was undoubtely one of the best halo days in this year. Observers from all over the Czech Republic enjoyed very bright 22° halo with tangent arcs and infralateral arcs.

We probably observed Wegener arcs and 120° parhelia, but this cannot be proven, because even fotos from Registax didn’t help us to clearly identify them. Anyway, Martin Popek saw that day very nice 46° halo and he took these pictures which were stacked from 40 images in Registax.

As the Sun was setting down, more halos appeared. In the second picture you can see parhelion with a part of parhelic circle (parhelic tail), 22° halo, circumzenithal arc and probably supralateral arc.

Edit: It isn’t supralateral arc in the second photo, but 46° halo because there is no upper tangent arc. That signifies absence of horizontal oriented columns, which are necessary in order to make supralateral arc.

46° halo in Czech Republic

The April 21st 2007 was undoubtely one of the best halo days in this year. Observers from all over the Czech Republic enjoyed very bright 22° halo with tangent arcs and infralateral arcs.

We probably observed Wegener arcs and 120° parhelia, but this cannot be proven, because even fotos from Registax didn’t help us to clearly identify them. Anyway, Martin Popek saw that day very nice 46° halo and he took these pictures which were stacked from 40 images in Registax.

As the Sun was setting down, more halos appeared. In the second picture you can see parhelion with a part of parhelic circle (parhelic tail), 22° halo, circumzenithal arc and probably supralateral arc.

Edit: It isn’t supralateral arc in the second photo, but 46° halo because there is no upper tangent arc. That signifies absence of horizontal oriented columns, which are necessary in order to make supralateral arc.

Mid-elevation halo display with column crystals in control

Throughout my work day there were a number of halos that were coming and going. Around midday there was 22d halo, circumscribed halo, parhelic circle, and parhelia. Later on at break time I got 22 and circumscribed halos and there was a nice infralateral arc on the left and a possible lower suncave parry arc not sure on that need help to identify short piece of arc to the left of 22d halo. Before I left work I imaged an upper suncave parry arc. The final stage had nice upper tangent arc and a complete supralateral arc.

by Michael Ellestad

Moon halo over Southern Finland - oriented columns in command

Little after midnight on the night of 5-6th January a fairly bright 22 halo and upper tangent arc appeared in high clouds. At this stage nothing implied that anything better would be on the way. However, at around 1.30 a.m. the halos arising from oriented columns had got much better and upper and lower tangent arcs stretched out to form a circumscribed halo. Infralateral arcs and a 9 halo appeared as well. Judging from the quality of circumscribed halo and infralateral arcs at the maximum phase one might suspect that rays scattered by oriented columns may have partially contributed to the intensity of the 9 halo.

The display ended at around 4 a.m. when low level clouds rolled in. Shortly before that 46 halo and parhelic circle were well formed (although faint). According to the reports so far the display was best seen in Tampere (photos by Jari Luomanen) and in Riihimaki (photos by Jukka Ruoskanen) .

Lunar display in Switzerland

On Nov/11/2006 I observed a nice high moon halo display in Switzerland. Visible was a bright circumscribed halo and a infralateral or circumhorizon arc.

 

by Mark Vornhusen

 

Originally in Halo reports

More rare halos in Czechoslovakia

Today was day of halos for all observers. I was seen: Parry arc, Infralateral arc. Martin Jankovic: Parry arc, 120 parhelia. Milan Cerny: Parry arc. Stepanka Kosova: Parry arc, 120 parhelia. Roman Manak: Parry arc and Martin Popek: 120 parhelia. For discussion: Lukas Shrbeny from Ondrejov had maybe Lowitz arc. You see his link.