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Mona - Astronomy #903491 11/26/15 07:24 AM
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Here is a very rare sight - a moonbow. Like a rainbow, a moonbow involves rain and sunlight. BUT it isn't created by direct sunlight being refracted by rain clouds. It's moonlight (which is reflected sunlight) being refracted by rain clouds.

Víðir Björnsson took this picture near Stykkishólmur, West Iceland, Sunday evening. What a wonderful thing to see.


Last edited by Mona - Astronomy; 11/26/15 07:25 AM.
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On December 7, a crescent Moon and Venus appeared close together in the sky. This is called a conjunction. In this photo you can also see Comet Catalina if you look at the bottom of the picture, somewhat left of center. The comet has two tails, a dust tail and an ion tail. The Moon is lit both by the Sun and by earthshine. Exquisite picture. (Credit: Greg Hogan)

Click to find out more about Comets or about Earthshine.

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Spaceweather.Com says that "An outbreak of polar stratospheric clouds (PMCs) is underway around the Arctic Circle." I've spent the last ten days in or near the Arctic Circle and have seen lots of clouds, but haven't seen anything that looked like these beauties.

Apparently these are polar stratospheric clouds and they form at some 25 km above the Earth's surface, much higher than normal clouds. The picture was taken by Sarah Skinner in Abisko, Sweden.

Atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley says
Quote:
Nacreous clouds far outshine and have much more vivid colours than ordinary iridescent clouds, which are very much poor relations and seen frequently all over the world. Once seen they are never forgotten.

I can certainly believe that.

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One of the many beautiful skyskapes from Randy Halverson of Dakotalapse. A treasure - especially for those of us (i.e., most of us these days) who views of the night sky are obscured by light pollution.

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The sky is awesome. That is why astronomers of old studied the heavens.

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The night here is cold and clear for the time being. The sky looks beautiful. When I was a little girl, I worried that the stars were cold.


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On February 1st - St Brigid's Day - beautiful pastel-colored clouds were seen across Ireland and parts of England. These clouds form high in the atmosphere where ice crystals refract sunlight.

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Mona, amazing! Did you take this photograph? It's beautiful. Almost like cotton candy.


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No, I didn't take the picture. I've never seen polar stratospheric clouds (their technical name), also called nacreous clouds. They're unusual to see them at these altitudes, and I've never been lucky enough to see any in Norway either. They're still rate, but more likely to be seen at high latitudes. I saw the St Brigid's Day story on a news report, but there are some other pictures of them in this thread.

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A few days ago (March 11) a geomagnetic storm had people even as far south as south Wales out looking at aurorae. A few of them also saw light pillars. Here is a zoom of the sky. [Image credits: Allan Trow and Andy Burns]

The pillars are caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere reflecting light and are more likely to be seen in polar regions than in the Rhigos mountains in south Wales. Local astronomers think the light reflected could have come from the Port Talbot steelworks which are just over the other side of the mountain.

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