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Parry Arc
A Parry arc is a rare halo, an optical phenomenon which occasionally appears over a 22° halo together with an upper tangent arc. Discovery The halo was first described by Sir William Edward Parry (1790–1855) in 1820 during one of his Arctic expeditions in search for the Northwest Passage. On April 8, under harsh conditions while his two ships were trapped by ice forcing him to winter over at Melville Island in the northern Canadian Arctic Archipelago, he made a drawing of the phenomenon. The drawing accurately renders the parhelic circle, a 22° halo, a pair of sun dogs, a lower tangent arc, a 46° halo, and a circumzenithal arc. He did, however, get the upper tangent arc slightly wrong. On the other hand, he added two arcs extending laterally from the bases of the 46° halo, for long interpreted as incorrectly drawn infralateral arcs, but were probably correctly drawn subhelic arcs (both produced by the same crystal orientation but with light passing through differe ...
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Sun Dog
A sun dog (or sundog) or mock sun, also called a parhelion (plural parhelia) in meteorology, is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to one or both sides of the Sun. Two sun dogs often flank the Sun within a 22° halo. The sun dog is a member of the family of halos caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere. Sun dogs typically appear as a pair of subtly colored patches of light, around 22° to the left and right of the Sun, and at the same altitude above the horizon as the Sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but are not always obvious or bright. Sun dogs are best seen and most conspicuous when the Sun is near the horizon. Formation and characteristics Sun dogs are commonly caused by the refraction and scattering of light from horizontally oriented plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals either suspended in high and cold cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, or drifting in freezing moist air at low ...
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Lowitz Arc
A Lowitz arc is an optical phenomenon that occurs in the atmosphere; specifically, it is a rare type of ice crystal halo that forms a luminous arc which extends inwards from a sun dog (parhelion) and may continue above or below the sun. History The phenomenon is named after Johann Tobias Lowitz (or Lovits) (1757 - 1804), a German-born Russian apothecary and experimental chemist. On the morning of June 18, 1790 in St. Petersburg, Russia, Lowitz witnessed a spectacular display of solar halos. Among his observations, he noted arcs descending from the sun dogs and extending below the sun: Original (in French): ''6. Ces deux derniers parhélies qui se trouvoient à quelque distance des intersections du grand cercle horizontal par les deux couronnes qui entourent le soleil, renvoyoient d'abord des deux cotés de parties d'arc très courtes colorées ''xi'' & ''yk'' dont la direction s'inclinoit au dessous du soleil jusqu'aux deux demi-arcs de cercle intérieurs ''die'' & ''dke'' ...
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Scalene
Scalene may refer to: * A scalene triangle, one in which all sides and angles are not the same. * A scalene ellipsoid, one in which the lengths of all three semi-principal axes are different * Scalene muscles of the neck * Scalene tubercle The scalene tubercle is a small projection that runs along the medial border of the first rib between two grooves, which travel anteriorly for the subclavian artery and posteriorly for the subclavian vein. It projects outward medially, and is the s ...
, a slight ridge on the first rib prolonged internally into a tubercle {{disambiguation ...
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Column Crystal
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. The term ''column'' applies especially to a large round support (the shaft of the column) with a capital and a base or pedestal, which is made of stone, or appearing to be so. A small wooden or metal support is typically called a ''post''. Supports with a rectangular or other non-round section are usually called ''piers''. For the purpose of wind or earthquake engineering, columns may be designed to resist lateral forces. Other compression members are often termed "columns" because of the similar stress conditions. Columns are frequently used to support beams or arches on which the upper parts of walls or ceilings rest. In architecture, "column" refers to such a structural element that also has certain proportional and decorative features. ...
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Hexagon
In geometry, a hexagon (from Ancient Greek, Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple polygon, simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A ''regular polygon, regular hexagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a Truncation (geometry), truncated equilateral triangle, t, which alternates two types of edges. A regular hexagon is defined as a hexagon that is both equilateral polygon, equilateral and equiangular polygon, equiangular. It is bicentric polygon, bicentric, meaning that it is both cyclic polygon, cyclic (has a circumscribed circle) and tangential polygon, tangential (has an inscribed circle). The common length of the sides equals the radius of the circumscribed circle or circumcircle, which equals \tfrac times the apothem (radius of the inscribed figure, inscribed circle). All internal angles are 120 degree (angle), degrees. A regular hexago ...
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Subhelic Arc
A subhelic arc is a rare halo, formed by internal reflection through ice crystals, that curves upwards from the horizon and touches the tricker arc above the anthelic point. Subhelic arcs result from ray entrance and exit through prism end faces with two intermediate internal reflections. Formation A subhelic arc is formed when sun rays enter one end face of an ice crystal in singly oriented columns and Parry columns, reflect off two of the crystals side faces, and exits the crystal through the opposite end face. The ray leaves the crystal at the exact opposite angle, resulting in a net deviation angle of 120°, the angle for the formation of 120° parhelia.Cowley, ''South Pole Halos - Zenith View'' The subhelic arc touches the top of the tricker arc, an indication the two have closely related ray paths.Cowley, ''South Pole Halos - Anthelic View'' The subhelic arc crosses the parhelic circle at an acute angle, and at a sun elevation of 27° it passes exactly through the ...
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Infralateral Arc
An infralateral arc (or lower lateral tangent arc) is a rare halo, an optical phenomenon appearing similar to a rainbow under a white parhelic circle. Together with the supralateral arc they are always located outside the seldom observable 46° halo, but in contrast to supralateral arcs, infralateral arcs are always located below the parhelic circle. The shape of an infralateral arc varies with the elevation of the Sun. Between sunrise and before the observed Sun reaches about 50° over Earth's horizon, two infralateral arcs are located on either side (e.g. lateral) of the 46° halo, their convex apexes lying tangent to the 46° halo. As the observed Sun reaches above 68° the two arcs unite to a single concave arc tangent to the 46° halo vertically under the Sun. (Including a photo from January 1996 and a 1980 computer simulation of infra- and supralateral arcs relative to a 46° halo.) Infralateral arcs form when sunlight enters horizontally oriented, rod-shaped hexagonal i ...
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Circumzenithal Arc
The circumzenithal arc, also called the circumzenith arc (CZA), upside-down rainbow, and the Bravais arc,"Mémoire sur les halos et les phénomènes optiques qui les accompagnent", J. de l' École Royale Polytechnique 31(18), 1-270, A. Bravais, 1847 is an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a rainbow, but belonging to the family of halos arising from refraction of sunlight through ice crystals, generally in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds, rather than from raindrops. The arc is located at a considerable distance (approximately 46°) above the observed Sun and at most forms a quarter of a circle centered on the zenith. It has been called "a smile in the sky", its first impression being that of an upside-down rainbow. The CZA is one of the brightest and most colorful members of the halo family. Its colors, ranging from violet on top to red at the bottom, are purer than those of a rainbow because there is much less overlap in their formation. The intensity distribution along ...
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46° Halo
A 46° halo is a rare atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a halo with an apparent radius of approximately 46° around the Sun. At solar elevations of 15–27°, 46° halos are often confused with the less rare and more colourful supralateral and infralateral arcs, which cross the parhelic circle at about 46° to the left and right of the sun.The 46° halo was first explained as being caused by refractions through ice crystals in 1679 by the French physicist Edmé Mariotte (1620–1684). See: Mariotte, ''Quatrieme Essay. De la Nature des Couleur'' (Paris, France: Estienne Michallet, 1681). Sun dogs as well as the 22° and 46° halos are explained in terms of refractions from ice crystals opages 466–524 The 46° halo is similar to, but much larger and fainter than, the more common 22° halo. The 46° halo forms when sunlight enters randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals through a prism face and exits through a hexagonal base. The 90° inclination between th ...
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Lower Tangent Arc
Tangent arcs are a type of halo, an atmospheric optical phenomenon, which appears above and below the observed Sun or Moon, tangent to the 22° halo. To produce these arcs, rod-shaped hexagonal ice crystals need to have their long axis aligned horizontally. Description Upper arc The shape of an upper tangent arc varies with the elevation of the Sun; while the Sun is low (less than 29–32°) it appears as an arc over the observed Sun forming a sharp angle. As the Sun is seen to rise above the Earth's horizon, the curved wings of the arc lower towards the 22° halo while gradually becoming longer. As the Sun rises over 29–32°, the upper tangent arc unites with the lower tangent arc to form the circumscribed halo. Lower arc The lower tangent arc is rarely observable, appearing under and tangent to a 22° halo centred on the Sun. Just like upper tangent arcs, the shape of a lower arc is dependent on the altitude of the Sun. As the Sun is observed slipping over Earth' ...
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Parhelic Circle
A parhelic circle is a type of halo, an optical phenomenon appearing as a horizontal white line on the same altitude as the sun, or occasionally the Moon. If complete, it stretches all around the sky, but more commonly it only appears in sections. If the halo occurs due to light from the moon rather than the sun, it is known as a paraselenic circle. Even fractions of parhelic circles are less common than sun dogs and 22° halos. While parhelic circles are generally white in colour because they are produced by reflection, they can however show a bluish or greenish tone near the 120° parhelia and be reddish or deep violet along the fringes. (including an excellent HaloSim simulation of a parhelic circle.) Parhelic circles form as beams of sunlight are reflected by vertical or almost vertical hexagonal ice crystals. The reflection can be either external (e.g. without the light passing through the crystal) which contributes to the parhelic circle near the sun, or internal (one or ...
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