Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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Maria
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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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Barbara wrote:

Wow ! That second photo from Iceland is remarkable. Thanks for all these, Maria.

The picture of the sun above resembles a yurt rather than that prosaic breakfast food...stunning pink, isn't it ?

Yes, it is remarkable.

Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.

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Maria
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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016

THE STRANGE THING ABOUT THIS SUNSET.... Yesterday at sunset, Mila Zinkova was looking west from Pacifica CA when "something strange happened," she reports. The sun split into multiple layers and a green flash appeared. But, that wasn't the strange thing. Temperature inversions above the ocean surface frequently distort the setting sun off the Califonia coast. "Take a closer look at the picture," urges Zinkova. "Where did that vertical pillar of light at the bottom come from?"

Image

"It's the spout of a whale," she explains.

In the complete video she recorded, multiple spouts can be seen grazing the bottom of the miraged sun. "Of course the sunset was unusual not because of whales, but because of some very complex temperature inversions in the atmosphere. While the lowest sun was setting, producing green flashes, the upper suns were not in a hurry to leave. They kept disappearing and reappearing."

Oh, to be at the ocean. I am so close to it, but with all the crazies out there, have not been there since 2014.

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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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I miss it the Pacific a lot, too. To think this picture was taken from Pacifica, which is south of San Francisco. I didn't know there were often these inversions causing beautiful displays. I wonder if that is a new phenomenon due to some changes in the atmosphere ? I don't remember seeing anything remotely like this. Great.

Maria, time to hit the beach before the autumn descends in full force ! Are there many weirdos hanging around in the area you would normally visit ? Is this a new problem ? Just curious. That's too bad they are preventing you from enjoying a refreshing day near the salt water.

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Maria
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Re: Huge Supermoon, November 14, 2016 next will be in 2034

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http://www.sciencealert.com/we-re-about ... cienceDump

If you only see one astronomical event this year, make it the November supermoon, when the Moon will be the closest to Earth it’s been since January 1948.

During the event, which will happen on the eve of November 14, the Moon will appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than an average full moon. This is the closest the Moon will get to Earth until 25 November 2034, so you really don’t want to miss this one.

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Maria
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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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Here is a very unusual sight: Notice the Milky Way and the multiple layers of color.

Image

This is called a "mesospheric bore"--and not because it's dull. A bore is a type of atmospheric wave with deep ripples at its leading edge. Indeed, you can see the ripples in Shuai's photo separating the zone of airglow from clear sky.

Bores fall into the category of "gravity waves"—so called because gravity acts as the restoring force essential to wave motion. Analogy: Boats in water. When a boat goes tearing across a lake, water in front of the boat is pushed upward. Gravity pulls the water back down again and this sets up a wave.

In this case, instead of water, rarefied air is the medium through which the wave propagates. The sudden boundary in the airglow layer is probably akin to a hydraulic jump. But what created the disturbance in the first place? (What is the 'boat'?) No one knows.

"There may be more updates in the coming days as scientists from NASA and the Chinese Academy of Science check data from satellites to learn more about this event," says Jeff Dai, who has been helping Xiao Shuai process and communicate his extraordinary images. Stay tuned

.

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016

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Maria
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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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God's beautiful creation is a wonder to behold.

Now that we are entering into a Maunder Minimum, a mini-ice age, the following clouds, called Polar Stratospheric Clouds, will be more visible at our polar and subartic regions and perhaps even at slightly lower latitudes.

Image

Taken by Mia Stålnacke on December 9, 2016 @ Kiruna, Sweden
The polar stratospheric clouds are back in the subarctic. Last winter we had them almost daily for long periods of time, this season I have barely seen them at all. They were brilliantly beautiful today but worrisome too of course.

http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_up ... _id=131357

Icy polar stratospheric clouds (PSCs) form in the lower stratosphere when temperatures drop to around -85ºC. That's how cold it has to be for ice crystals to form in the very dry stratosphere. High-altitude sunlight shining through tiny ice particles 10µm across produce the characteristic bright iridescent colors.

"Once seen they are never forgotten," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley. "Polar stratospheric clouds have much more vivid colors than ordinary iridescent clouds, which are very much poor relations and seen frequently all over the world."

Once thought to be mere curiosities, some PSCs are now known to be associated with the destruction of ozone. Indeed, an ozone hole formed over the UK in Feb. 2016 following an outbreak of ozone-destroying Type 1 PSCs.

"Last winter we had these clouds almost daily for long periods of time," says Stålnacke. Arctic sky watchers are encouraged to be alert for more in the days ahead. The best time to look is just before sunrise or after sunset.

http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php ... &year=2016

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Re: Upside down rainbows and other unusual sights

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Corona Australis ~ A magnificent corona surrounded by swirling cloud iridescence captured by Colin Golledge 80km NW of Sydney, Australia.

Diffraction by individual cloud droplets created the scene.

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/opod.htm

Image

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