APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

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APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by APOD Robot » Mon Aug 30, 2021 4:06 am

Image A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia

Explanation: What's happening to this cloud? Ice crystals in a distant cirrus cloud are acting like little floating prisms. Known informally as a fire rainbow for its flame-like appearance, a circumhorizon arc appears parallel to the horizon. For a circumhorizontal arc to be visible, the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below -- in this case cirrus fibrates. The numerous, flat, hexagonal ice-crystals that compose the cirrus cloud must be aligned horizontally to properly refract sunlight in a collectively similar manner. Therefore, circumhorizontal arcs are somewhat unusual to see. The featured fire rainbow was photographed earlier this month near North Fork Mountain in West Virginia, USA.

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Ann
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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by Ann » Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:38 am


Amazing! It looks like the sky is ablaze with a wildfire of color!

Ann
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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by FrankTKO » Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:15 pm

I'm not sure I understand the phrase "the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below"...

Was the photographer looking up at the sky or was he on a mountain looking level or down?

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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by orin stepanek » Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:39 pm

FireRainbow_Harbig_960.jpg
Exactly what I was thinking Ann! The Sky is burning; Aka Henny Penny
The sky is falling! I never knew this phenom existed! 8-)
8121c0291fa14d1fe52b9eb007741cac.jpg
Kitty thinks it's amazing also
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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by neufer » Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:59 pm

FrankTKO wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 12:15 pm
I'm not sure I understand the phrase "the Sun must be at least 58 degrees high in a sky where cirrus clouds present below"...

Was the photographer looking up at the sky or was he on a mountain looking level or down?
Art Neuendorffer

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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by ta152h0 » Mon Aug 30, 2021 3:49 pm

Of course all that is true! pass the ice cold one.
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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by alcor » Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:14 pm

Ann wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 5:38 am

Amazing! It looks like the sky is ablaze with a wildfire of color!

Ann
I fully concur ...
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
As Riker says in Star Trek, but due to something quite else.

:D
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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by heehaw » Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:13 pm

It is nice to have ONE planet where we can get close-ups!

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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by Chris Peterson » Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:15 pm

heehaw wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:13 pm It is nice to have ONE planet where we can get close-ups!
I think it's fair to say that, at the moment, we have two (although with less geographical coverage on one of those).
Chris

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Re: APOD: A Fire Rainbow over West Virginia (2021 Aug 30)

Post by neufer » Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:44 pm

Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Chris Peterson wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:15 pm
heehaw wrote: Mon Aug 30, 2021 10:13 pm

It is nice to have ONE planet where we can get close-ups!
I think it's fair to say that, at the moment, we have two (although with less geographical coverage on one of those).
Art Neuendorffer

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