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False Sunrise
A false sunrise is any of several atmospheric optical phenomena in which the Sun appears to have risen, but is actually still some distance below the horizon. A number of different atmospheric conditions can be responsible for this effect, all of which divert the sunlight in such a way as to allow it to reach the observer's eye, thereby giving the impression that the light comes directly from the Sun itself. The spread of light can sometimes be deceivingly similar to a true sun. Several atmospheric phenomena that may alternatively be called a "false sunrise" are: * Simple reflection of the sunlight off the bottom of the clouds. * A type of ice crystal halo, such as an upper tangent arc or, more commonly, an upper sun pillar (similar to a subsun, but extending above the sun instead of below it). Like all halos, these phenomena are caused by the reflection and/or refraction of sunlight by ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, often in the form of cirrus or cirrostratus cl ...
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Zodiacal Light
The zodiacal light (also called false dawn when seen before sunrise) is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. Brighter around the Sun, it appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun's direction in a roughly triangular shape along the zodiac, and appears with less intensity and visibility along the whole ecliptic as the zodiacal band. Zodiacal light spans the entire sky and contributes to the natural light of a clear and moonless night sky. A related phenomenon is ''gegenschein'' (or ''counterglow''), sunlight backscattered from the interplanetary dust, appearing directly opposite to the Sun as a faint but slightly brighter oval glow. Zodiacal light is very faint, often outshined and rendered invisible by moonlight or light pollution. The interplanetary dust in the Solar System forms a thick, pancake-shaped cloud called the zodiacal cloud which straddles the ecliptic plane. The particle sizes range from 10 to 300 micrometres, im ...
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Novaya Zemlya Effect
The Novaya Zemlya effect is a polar mirage caused by high refraction of sunlight between atmospheric thermal layers. The effect gives the impression that the sun is rising earlier than it actually should, and depending on the meteorological situation, the effect will present the Sun as a line or a square — sometimes referred to as the rectangular sun — made up of flattened hourglass shapes. The mirage requires rays of sunlight to travel through an inversion layer for hundreds of kilometres, and depends on the inversion layer's temperature gradient. The sunlight must bend to the Earth's curvature at least to allow an elevation rise of 5° for sight of the solar disk. The first person to record the phenomenon was Gerrit de Veer, a member of Willem Barentsz's ill-fated third expedition into the north polar region in 1596–1597. Trapped by the ice, the party was forced to stay for the winter in a makeshift lodge on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya and endure the polar night. ...
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Light Pillar
A light pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in which a vertical beam of light appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere or that comprise high-altitude clouds (e.g. cirrostratus or cirrus clouds).Colonne lumineuse
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If the light comes from the Sun (usually when it is near or even below the horizon), the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or sola ...
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Subsun
A subsun (also spelled sub-sun) is an optical phenomenon that appears as a glowing spot visible within clouds or mist when observed from above. The subsun appears directly below the actual Sun, and is caused by sunlight reflecting off of numerous tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. As such, the effect belongs to the family of halos. The region of ice crystals acts as a large mirror, creating a virtual image of the Sun appearing below the horizon, analogous to the Sun's reflection in a body of water. The ice crystals responsible for a subsun are typically in the shape of flat hexagonal plates. As they fall through the air, their aerodynamic properties cause them to orient themselves horizontally, i.e., with their hexagonal surfaces parallel to the Earth's surface. When they are disturbed by turbulence, however, the plates start to "wobble", causing their surfaces to deviate some degrees from the ideal horizontal orientation, and causing the reflection (i.e., the s ...
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Mirage
A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meaning "to look at, to wonder at". Mirages can be categorized as "inferior" (meaning lower), "superior" (meaning higher) and " Fata Morgana", one kind of superior mirage consisting of a series of unusually elaborate, vertically stacked images, which form one rapidly-changing mirage. In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon that can be captured on camera, since light rays are actually refracted to form the false image at the observer's location. What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind. For example, inferior images on land are very easily mistaken for the reflections from a small body of water. Inferior mirage In an inferior mirage, the mirage ima ...
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Halo (optical Phenomenon)
A halo is an optical phenomenon produced by light (typically from the Sun or Moon) interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky. Many of these appear near the Sun or Moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the best known halo types are the circular halo (properly called the 22° halo), light pillars, and sun dogs, but many others occur; some are fairly common while others are extremely rare. The ice crystals responsible for halos are typically suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds in the upper troposphere (), but in cold weather they can also float near the ground, in which case they are referred to as diamond dust. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals are responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split into colors because of dispersion. The crystals ...
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False Sunset
A false sunset can refer to one of two related atmospheric optical phenomena, in which either (1) the Sun appears to be setting into or to have set below the horizon while it is actually still some height above the horizon, or (2) the Sun has already set below the horizon, but still appears to be on or above the horizon (thus representing the reverse of a false sunrise). Depending on circumstances, these phenomena can give the impression of an actual sunset. There are several atmospheric conditions which may cause the effect, most commonly a type of halo, caused by the reflection and refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals in the atmosphere, often in the form of cirrostratus clouds. Depending on which variety of "false sunset" is meant, the halo has to appear either above the Sun (which itself is hidden below the horizon) or below it (in which case the real Sun is obstructed from view, e.g. by clouds or other objects), making the upper and lower tangent arc, upper and l ...
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Zodiacal Light
The zodiacal light (also called false dawn when seen before sunrise) is a faint glow of diffuse sunlight scattered by interplanetary dust. Brighter around the Sun, it appears in a particularly dark night sky to extend from the Sun's direction in a roughly triangular shape along the zodiac, and appears with less intensity and visibility along the whole ecliptic as the zodiacal band. Zodiacal light spans the entire sky and contributes to the natural light of a clear and moonless night sky. A related phenomenon is ''gegenschein'' (or ''counterglow''), sunlight backscattered from the interplanetary dust, appearing directly opposite to the Sun as a faint but slightly brighter oval glow. Zodiacal light is very faint, often outshined and rendered invisible by moonlight or light pollution. The interplanetary dust in the Solar System forms a thick, pancake-shaped cloud called the zodiacal cloud which straddles the ecliptic plane. The particle sizes range from 10 to 300 micrometres, im ...
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Gerrit De Veer
Gerrit de Veer (–) was a Dutch officer on Willem Barentsz' second and third voyages of 1595 and 1596 respectively, in search of the Northeast passage. De Veer kept a diary of the voyages and in 1597, was the first person to observe and record the Novaya Zemlya effect, and the first Westerner to observe hypervitaminosis A Hypervitaminosis A refers to the toxic effects of ingesting too much preformed vitamin A (retinyl esters, retinol, and retinal). Symptoms arise as a result of altered bone metabolism and altered metabolism of other fat-soluble vitamins. Hyperv ... caused by consumption of the liver of a polar bear. References 16th-century Dutch explorers Dutch diarists Dutch polar explorers Explorers of Svalbard Explorers of the Arctic 16th-century diarists {{Explorer-stub ...
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Polar Night
The polar night is a phenomenon where the nighttime lasts for more than 24 hours that occurs in the northernmost and southernmost regions of Earth. This occurs only inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, the polar day, or midnight sun, occurs when the Sun remains above the horizon for more than 24 hours. "Night" is understood as the center of the Sun being below a free horizon. Since the atmosphere refracts sunlight, the polar day is longer than the polar night, and the area that is affected by polar night is somewhat smaller than the area of midnight sun. The polar circle is located at a latitude between these two areas, at approximately 66.5°. While it is day in the Arctic Circle, it is night in the Antarctic Circle, and vice versa. Any planet or moon with a sufficient axial tilt that rotates with respect to its star significantly more frequently than it orbits the star (no tidal locking between the two) will experience the same phenomenon (a nighttime ...
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Willem Barentsz
Willem Barentsz (; – 20 June 1597), anglicized as William Barents or Barentz, was a Dutch Republic, Dutch navigator, cartographer, and Arctic explorer. Barentsz went on three expeditions to the far north in search for a Northern Sea Route, Northeast passage. He reached as far as Novaya Zemlya and the Kara Sea in his first two voyages, but was turned back on both occasions by ice. During a third expedition, the crew discovered Spitsbergen and Bear Island (Norway), Bear Island, but subsequently became stranded on Novaya Zemlya for almost a year. Barentsz died on the return voyage in 1597. The Barents Sea, among many other places, is named after him. Life and career Willem Barentsz was born around 1550 in the village Formerum on the island Terschelling in the Seventeen Provinces, present-day Netherlands. ''Barentsz'' was not his surname but rather his Dutch_name#Patronymics, patronymic name, short for ''Barentszoon'' "Barent's son". A cartographer by trade, Barentsz sailed to ...
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Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the easternmost point of Europe. To Novaya Zemlya's west lies the Barents Sea and to the east is the Kara Sea. Novaya Zemlya consists of two main islands, the northern Severny Island and the southern Yuzhny Island, which are separated by the Matochkin Strait. Administratively, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya District, one of the twenty-one in Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia.Law #65-5-OZ Municipally, it is incorporated as Novaya Zemlya Urban Okrug.Law #258-vneoch.-OZ The population of Novaya Zemlya as of the 2010 Census was about 2,429, of whom 1,972 resided in Belushya Guba, an urban settlement that is the administrative center of Novaya Zemlya District. The indigenous population (from 1872 to the 1950s when it was resett ...
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