14 light phenomena in photographs

You've probably seen a rainbow and probably know what a mirage is on the highway in the heat. Some of us were more fortunate, and they saw with their own eyes such natural phenomena as the northern lights, a white or inverted rainbow and star trails. In this post, we have picked up a little more than a dozen natural phenomena that appear as a result of refraction or other action of light. In a word, these are light phenomena, thanks to which stunning photos and unforgettable impressions are obtained.

A rare atmospheric phenomenon, also known as a "fiery rainbow", occurs when the horizontal sun rays of the rising or setting sun are refracted through horizontally arranged ice crystals of clouds. The result is a kind of wall painted in different colors of the rainbow. The photo was taken in the Washington sky in 2006.

The sun's rays are reflected from ice crystals located at an angle of 22 ° with respect to the Sun in high-altitude clouds. Different positions of ice crystals can cause halo modifications. On frosty days, the effect of "diamond dust" can be observed, in this case, the sun's rays are repeatedly reflected from ice crystals.

Airplane exhaust and eddy currents at high altitudes turn ice particles into water. Long white stripes high in the sky are nothing but water droplets suspended in a suspended state.

The rays of the setting sun, passing through gaps in the clouds, form clearly visible individual beams of sunlight. Very often, such sun rays can be seen in various science fiction films. This photo was taken in one of the Utah National Parks.

The Northern Lights are nothing but a collision in the upper atmosphere of the sun's rays with charged particles of gases of the Earth's magnetic field.

A visual demonstration of the rotation of the Earth. This phenomenon is invisible to the naked eye. To get such a photo, you need to put the camera on a long shutter speed. In the picture, only the only Polar star, located almost above the axis of the Earth, remains almost motionless.

The photo was taken on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The small size of the air droplets of water makes it impossible to decompose the sun's rays into color spectra, so the rainbow is only white.

This photo was taken in China. The phenomenon is similar to the "ghost of Brocken". The sun's rays are reflected from atmospheric water droplets over the sea, the shadow in the middle of the rainbow circle of reflected rays is the shadow of an airplane.

Such an unusual rainbow also appears as a result of the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals located only in certain parts of clouds.

A very common atmospheric phenomenon. It can be observed not only in the desert, but also on the highway in the sweltering heat. This phenomenon is formed as a result of the refraction of sunlight through a "lens" formed by layers of colder (near the surface of the earth) and warmer (located above) air. This kind of lens reflects objects located above the horizon, in this case the sky. The photo was taken in Thuringia (Germany).

The rays of the setting sun at right angles "stumble" on the water droplets of clouds. As a result of diffraction (the bending of water droplets by sunlight) and interference of sunlight (the decomposition of sunlight into spectra), the cloud shape is filled with a gradient fill, as in Photoshop.

A trace of a Minotaur missile fired by the US Air Force in California. Air currents blowing at different altitudes at different speeds cause distortion of the trace of rocket exhaust. Atmospheric water droplets of melted ice crystals also cause the decomposition of sunlight into different colors of the rainbow.

This phenomenon is observed on a foggy morning. An iridescent solar disk appears opposite the sun as a result of the reflection of sunlight from water droplets of fog. A curious triangular shadow that breaks the iridescent disk of reflected sunlight is nothing more than a projection of the upper surface of clouds.

Zodiac light very often masks moonlight and artificial light of cities. On a quiet moonless night in nature, the probability that you will see the zodiac light is quite high. This phenomenon is observed as a result of the reflection of sunlight from cosmic dust particles surrounding the Earth.