Five Optical Phenomena
1. Glory
A glory is a ring of colors that encircles the observer's shadow like a halo. The glory is caused by the backscattering of sunlight in the water droplets of a cloud. You can only see a glory if you are directly between the sun and the cloud of refracting water droplets. You need to be up near the clouds to experience a glory, either in an airplane or high on a mountain. |
2. Dew bow
3. Su n Do g
4. Moon bow
A moonbow is like a rainbow except that the moon is the source of the light instead of the sun. To see a true moonbow, the moon must be low in the sky and it must be very dark. and there must be moisture in the air. A false moonbow, or spray bow, is produced by the moon's light reflecting on spray or mist off of a waterfall. A false moonbow can also be reproduced in the day time with sunlight. |
5. Moon Dog
A moon dog is, you guessed it, the same as a sun dog, except it is made from the light of the moon. Two spots appear on either side of the moon as a result of refraction of light on ice crystals. Moon dogs are pretty rare and appear mostly white to our eyes because the moon's light is not bright enough to activate the color receptors in our eyes called cone cells. |