Halo (optical phenomenon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

12/21/15, 13:16

Halo (optical phenomenon)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A halo (from Greek , hals;[1] also known as a nimbus, icebow or

gloriole) is an optical phenomenon produced by light interacting with
ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, resulting in a wide variety of
colored or white rings, arcs and spots in the sky. Many halos are near the
Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of
the sky. Among the most well known halo types are the circular halo
(properly called the 22 halo), light pillars and sun dogs, but there are
many more; some of them fairly common, others (extremely) rare.
The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or
cirrostratus clouds high (510 km, or 36 miles) in the upper
troposphere, but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in
which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape
and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo
observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may
split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like
prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces,
sending shafts of light in particular directions.
A 22 halo around the sun in Nepal

Atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore

Himalayas.
as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was
developed. They often do mean that rain is going to fall within the next
24 hours as the cirrostratus clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system.

Other common optical phenomena involving water droplets rather than ice crystals include the glory and the
rainbow.

Contents
1 Light pillar
2 Circular halo
3 Other names
4 Gallery
5 See also
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

Page 1 of 4

Halo (optical phenomenon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

12/21/15, 13:16

6 References
7 External links

Light pillar
A light pillar, or sun pillar, appears as a vertical pillar or column of light
rising from the sun near sunset or sunrise, though it can appear below
the sun, particularly if the observer is at a high elevation or altitude.
Hexagonal plate- and column-shaped ice crystals cause the
phenomenon. Plate crystals generally cause pillars only when the sun is
within 6 degrees of the horizon, or below it; column crystals can cause a
pillar when the sun is as high as 20 degrees above the horizon. The
crystals tend to orient themselves near-horizontally as they fall or float
through the air, and the width and visibility of a sun pillar depends on
crystal alignment.

From top to bottom:

A circumzenithal arc, supralateral arc,
Parry arc, upper tangent arc, and 22
halo.

Light pillars can also form around the moon, and around street lights or
other bright lights. Pillars forming from ground-based light sources may
appear much taller than those associated with the sun or moon. Since the
observer is closer to the light source, crystal orientation matters less in the formation of these pillars.

Circular halo
Among the most well known halos is the 22 halo, often just called "halo", which appears as a large ring around
the Sun or Moon with a radius of about 22 (roughly the width of an outstretched hand at arm's length). The ice
crystals that cause the 22 halo are oriented semi-randomly in the atmosphere, in contrast to the horizontal
orientation required for some other halos such as sun dogs and light pillars. As a result of the optical properties
of the ice crystals involved, no light is reflected towards the inside of the ring, leaving the sky noticeably darker
than the sky around it, and giving it the impression of a "hole in the sky".[2] The 22 halo is not to be confused
with the corona, which is a different optical phenomenon caused by water droplets rather than ice crystals, and
which has the appearance of a multicolored disk rather than a ring.

Other names
In the Anglo-Cornish dialect of English a halo round the sun or the moon is called a cock's eye and is a token of
bad weather. The term is related to the Breton word kog-heol (sun cock) which has the same meaning.[3]

Gallery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

Page 2 of 4

Halo (optical phenomenon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Circumscribe
d halo around
the sun, taken
on Punta
Alta,
Argentina,
captured on
January 28,
2013 at 11:58
am.

12/21/15, 13:16

Sun pillar in San Francisco.

22 halo around the Moon,

Graz, Austria, October 23,
2010.

Sun dogs and possible

Sun pillar in Hesse,
August 12, 2012.

Atmospheric
Complex halo display (22 halo,
temperatures responsible
sun dogs, upper tangent arc,
for ice crystals around
upper and lower Sun pillar,
22 halo, as viewed
parhelic circle, supralateral arc)
through a thermal camera
observed in Les Mnuires
(C). The halo itself is
(elevation ~2200 metres), Rhonenot present in the thermal
Alpes, France on January 23,
spectrum. The sun is
2015 during sunset at 16:30.
partially visible at the top
of the image.

See also
120 parhelion
22 halo
46 halo
Anthelion
Atmospheric optics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

Diamond dust
False sunrise
Glory
Green flash
Heiligenschein

Parhelic circle
Parry arc
Rainbow
Subhelic arc
Subparhelic circle
Page 3 of 4

Halo (optical phenomenon) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Circumhorizontal arc
Circumscribed halo
Circumzenithal arc
Corona

12/21/15, 13:16

Infralateral arc
Kern arc
Light pillar
Liljequist parhelion
Lower tangent arc

Subsun
Sun dog
Supralateral arc
Upper tangent arc

References
1. Harper, Douglas. "halo". Online Etymology Dictionary. (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?
doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0057:entry=a(/lws). Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A GreekEnglish Lexicon at the
Perseus Project.
2. http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/circ2.htm
3. Nance, Robert Morton; Pool, P. A. S. (1963). A Glossary of Cornish Sea-Words. Cornwall: Federation of Old Cornwall
Societies. p. 61.

External links
Photos and explanation of 22 halo phenomenon
Wikimedia Commons has
(http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/science_tech/whatsmedia related to Halo.
that-rainbow-ring-around-the-sun-its-a-22-degree-halo-formedby-ice-crystals)
Halo explanations and image galleries (http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm) at Atmospheric Optics
(http://www.atoptics.co.uk/)
Meteoros AKM - Halo explanations and image galleries (http://www.meteoros.de/haloe.htm)
Halo reports of interesting halo observations around the World (http://haloreports.blogspot.com)
Southern Hemisphere Halo and other atmospheric phenomena (http://www.astronomy.net.nz)
Moon Halo Gallery (http://www.lumis.com/tag/Moon_Ring/page1/)
Halo in Chisinau Moldova (photo and video) (http://valeriu.tihai.md/?p=280)
Sun Halo appeared in Padang after the earthquake
(http://www.detiknews.com/read/2009/10/02/121219/1213668/10/fenomena-halo-muncul-di-kotapadang)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halo_(optical_phenomenon)&oldid=692286907"
Categories: Atmospheric optical phenomena
This page was last modified on 24 November 2015, at 17:46.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may
apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered
trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

Page 4 of 4