Pyramidal halos in central Virginia

Elmar Schmidt was travelling southwards after the 10th Conference on Light and Color in Nature in Maryland. He observed this spectacular pyramidal halo display in central Virginia on 22 June. The display lasted for at least 2 1/2 hours and showed several odd radius halo rings and their tangent arcs.

As Elmar Schmidt tells: "All in all the phenomenon looked spectacular and eery with the broad belt starting at the 18-deg-radius. Of note is also its quite southerly location and the longevity, which might be interesting to compare with simulations, especially at the sun's elevation of 57 degrees." ( 1 )

Further images of the display between solar altitude 54 and 29 degrees are also available ( 2- 3- 4- 5 )

Odd radii from Italy

Marco Candotti sent these photos from Italy. The images were taken on 15 June. The 22 degree halo lasted about an hour, while the pyramidal crystal halos only a few minutes. For a short time, a 120 degree parhelion was also observed

New version of Streetlight Halos

A new version of Streetlight Halos is available ( 1 ). The project took on a life of its own, to the point where it is now a monster, more than anyone will want to read in totality. There are nevertheless lots of pretty pictures and quite a few suggestions for observers for next winter.

Walt Tape

Tampere Ellipse

The elliptical halo display observed yesterday by Marko Riikonen and Jari Luomanen was formed - as usual - in Ac virga. Marko had been paying much attention to Ac virgas for some time, and could therefore observe the whole display from beginning to end. From his perspective the display lasted six minutes between 10:18 - 10:24 and was uniformly good during the whole period. From Jari's place of observation, the best phase lasted a couple of seconds only.

More photos of the observation can be seen in their galleries ( 1 - 2 ).