APOD: Sun Halo at Sixty-three Degrees North (2022 Dec 21)

[APOD Robot]

Sun Halo at Sixty-three Degrees North

Explanation: Happy Solstice! Today is the December solstice, marking an astronomical beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere and winter in the north. On its yearly trek through planet Earth's skies, at this solstice the Sun reaches its southern most declination, 23.5 degrees south, at 21:48 UTC. About 4 days ago the Sun was near this seasonal southern limit and so only just above the horizon at local noon over Ostersund in central Sweden. This view looking over the far northern lakeside city finds the midday Sun with a beautiful solar ice halo. Naturally occurring atmospheric ice crystals can produce the tantalizing halo displays, refracting and reflecting the sunlight through their hexagonal geometry. Still, with the Sun low and near the horizon in the clear sky, likely sources of the ice crystals producing this intense halo are snow cannons. Operating at a local ski area, the snowmaking machines create a visible plume at the top of the nearby island Froson toward the right side of the panorama.

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[Ann]

Sun Halo at Sixty-three Degrees North Image Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand

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That's a very nice image, but I really need to give you a small Swedish lesson here!

The photographer's name is Göran Strand. If you go to this page you can hear the prononciation of it. (But it drives me crazy that that page, too, spells the name "Goran", which would be pronounced entirely differently than "Göran" in Swedish! And the heading, "Hur att uttala Goran", is a horrible example of Swenglish - you would say "Hur uttalas Göran".)

Sankt Göran (Saint George) slays the dragon and saves the princess.

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Göran Strand lives in Östersund.

maklare-ostersund[1].jpg

Östersund. Photo: s_werner

The island that you could just barely see to the right in the APOD is Frösön. If you go to this page and wait somewhat patiently, you can hear the pronunciation of Frösön.

Frösön. Source: Visit Östersund.

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Ann

[Lasse H]

I definitely agree with Ann 100%. In this international age, when all kinds of alphabets are available on the Internet, it is perfectly posssible to spell the geographical names Östersund anf Frösön correctly in a text that reaches all corners of the world!

[Sa Ji Tario]

Let's relax with the music!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp4 ... rt_radio=1

[orin stepanek]

Let's relax with the music!



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMbvcp4 ... rt_radio=1

Thanks for the beautiful scenery!

[orin stepanek]

GS_20221217_Solhalo_Pan_v3_1100.jpg

APOD gives us lots of beautiful images! Worth peeking in
everyday!
The bad thing about winter is the cold; I hate the cold! I also hate
the hot days of summer!

[johnnydeep]

GS_20221217_Solhalo_Pan_v3_1100.jpg
APOD gives us lots of beautiful images! Worth peeking in
everyday!
The bad thing about winter is the cold; I hate the cold! I also hate
the hot days of summer!

Yup. Give me six months of Spring followed by six months of Fall. Winter and Summer I can happily do without.

[Guest again]

Never look directly at the sun. Permanent eye damage could result

[Chris Peterson]

That's a very nice image, but I really need to give you a small Swedish lesson here!

The photographer's name is Göran Strand. If you go to this page you can hear the prononciation of it. (But it drives me crazy that that page, too, spells the name "Goran", which would be pronounced entirely differently than "Göran" in Swedish! And the heading, "Hur att uttala Goran", is a horrible example of Swenglish - you would say "Hur uttalas Göran".)

As an aside, there is an internationally accepted spelling substitution system that allows for his name to be presented as "Goeran". It was developed back in the telegraph days when the only available alphabet was lacking all of the extra letters found in German and the Scandinavian alphabet. With Unicode and our modern electronic writing systems there's no reason to fall back on that... but I'd argue that in this case "Goeran" is still better than "Goran".

[Ann]

That's a very nice image, but I really need to give you a small Swedish lesson here!

The photographer's name is Göran Strand. If you go to this page you can hear the prononciation of it. (But it drives me crazy that that page, too, spells the name "Goran", which would be pronounced entirely differently than "Göran" in Swedish! And the heading, "Hur att uttala Goran", is a horrible example of Swenglish - you would say "Hur uttalas Göran".)

As an aside, there is an internationally accepted spelling substitution system that allows for his name to be presented as "Goeran". It was developed back in the telegraph days when the only available alphabet was lacking all of the extra letters found in German and the Scandinavian alphabet. With Unicode and our modern electronic writing systems there's no reason to fall back on that... but I'd argue that in this case "Goeran" is still better than "Goran".

I agree, Chris.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

GS_20221217_Solhalo_Pan_v3_1100.jpg
APOD gives us lots of beautiful images! Worth peeking in
everyday!
The bad thing about winter is the cold; I hate the cold! I also hate
the hot days of summer!

Yup. Give me six months of Spring followed by six months of Fall. Winter and Summer I can happily do without.

you can run my kind of planet anytime!