PIX4671730: Lunar Halo - Lunar Halo - Lunar Halo. The ice crystals in the cirrus decompose the lunar light (in fact, the solar light reflected by the lunar surface) as small prisms and can give rise to a large coloured circle. Lunar halos are caused by moonlight being refracted by cirro - stratus clouds. These thin clouds are located very high in the atmosphere, and are composed of ice crystals. They bend light at a 22 degree angle, which creates a halo that is 44 degrees in diameter / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671634: Noctulescent clouds - Noctilucent clouds - Noctilucent clouds, very high altitude clouds, photographs in July 2009 in Russia. These rare clouds are called noctilucent or “” night shining” as they seem to glow in the dark. They are caused by ice crystals at about 80 km altitude. These crystals reflect sunlight when the sun is well below the horizon. They are properly known as polar mesospheric clouds and are under intense study as it remains a mystery as to how they are formed. Image taken in july 2009 in Russia / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671779: Corona around the Moon - Corona around the Moon - When the light of the Moon passes through thin clouds of water droplets, it can create a moon crown of color. In meteorology, a lunar corona is produced by the diffraction of light from the Moon by small water droplets in a cloud / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671856: Colored crown around the Moon and irizations - Corona around the Moon with irisation - Provoked by the microscopic drops of water that form these clouds, the crowns are colored blue as close to the Moon, then degrade from yellow to brick red. In the distance, on the edge of the cloud strip, another luminous phenomene is noticeable: these are colourful irisations such as those seen sometimes on some puddles. In meteorology, a lunar corona is produced by the diffraction of light from the Moon by small water droplets in a cloud / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671060: Halo around the Sun - Sun Halo - Halos are due to the light of the Sun reflected by high-altitude clouds, cirrostratus, composed of ice crystals. They bend the light and cause a perfect circle around the Sun. Halos are caused by sunlight being refracted by cirro - stratus clouds. These are thin clouds, very high in the atmosphere, and are composed of ice crystals. They bend light at a 22 degree angle, which creates a halo around the sun that is 44 degrees in diameter / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671367: Parhely - Sun dog - Parhelies are optical phenomena due to the interaction of solar light on ice crystals. The parhely is clearly off the halo of 22* radius when the Sun is 21* high. Sundogs appear generally when the sun is low, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds; they are caused by the refraction of sunlight passing through ice crystals / Bridgeman Images
PIX4671379: Arc de fog - Fogbow - Arc de fog observed in Brittany on 5 May 2006. A haze arc is formed in the way of a rainbow. The light of the Sun is reflected in the water drops of the mist, but unlike raindrops, the mist droplets are much smaller: about a millimetre for the rain versus a few centiemes for the mist. As a result, the diffraction in the mist droplets is preponderant, which results in colour refracting at random angles, between 30 and 45* around the anti-sun point (opposite the Sun). Thus, all colours blend and one sees a white arch of light, sometimes slightly bluish on the inside and red on the outside, wider than a rainbow. Fogbow seen in Brittany on May 5, 2006. A fogbow is forming like a rainbow. The sunlight reflects in the fog droplets, but thoses droplets are much more smaller than the raindrops: about hundredths millimeters for the fog instead of about one millimeter for the rain. Thus, the diffraction in the fog droplets is leading, then the colors are refracted under angles between 30 and 45* around the antisolar point (at the opposite of the Sun). Then the colors mixe and one can see a white light bow, with sometime blue in the interior and red in the exterior, larger than a rainbo / Bridgeman Images
PIX4675989: Tyndall Glacier, Chile - Tyndall Glacier, Chile - The Tyndall Glacier in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile, observed from the International Space Station in November 2007. Tyndall Glacier is located in the Torres del Paine National Park in Chile. This glacier, which has a total area of 331 square kilometers and a length of 32 kilometers (based on 1996 measurements), begins in the Patagonian Andes Mountains to the west and terminates in Lago Geikie. The digital astronaut photograph taken in november 2007 records visible light in red, green, and blue wavelengths (true color). The Tyndall Glacier terminus has retreated significantly during the past 17 years. Significant ice loss was also observed earlier this year at Grey Glacier, about 30 kilometers to the north - northeast, suggesting both glaciers are responding similarly to regional changes in temperature and precipitation. A medial moraine is visible in the center of the glacier, extending along its length (top image, center left). Moraines - - accumulations of soil and rock debris - - form along the edges of a glacier as it flows downhill across the landscape (much like a snowplow builds ridges of snow along the roadside). Glaciers flowing downslope through adjacent valleys merge when they encounter each other, and debris entrained along their sides becomes concentrated in the central portion of the new combined ice mass, much as small streams join to form a river.Crevasse fields are also visible in the image. The crevasse - - small, but potentially quite deep fissures - - form as a result of stress between slower - and faster - moving ice within the glacier. Crevasse fields on Tyndall Glacier are most evident near rock promontories extending into the glacier; these rock outcrops cause the ice to slow as it flows around the obstruction / Bridgeman Images
PIX4676439: Ol Doinyo Lengai - Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai - Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano is an active volcano located in Tanzania in the valley of the Great Rift. Ol Doinyo Lengai is the only volcano in the world to emit carbonatite. Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai is an active volcano located in Tanzania in the great rift valley. It is the only known volcano producing carbonatite / Bridgeman Images
PIX4676925: Anak Krakatau volcano eruption - Anak Krakatau volcano - Anak Krakatau volcano eruption in May 2008. This explosive-type active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific belt of fire. The Anak Krakatau (the “son of Krakatoa”) appeared in 1927 on the remains of the terrible explosion of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruption of Anak Krakatau in May 2008. This active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific Ring of fire. Anak Krakatau, which means child of Kratatau,””” emerged from the sea in 1928 replacing the Krakatau craters destroyed in the 1883 eruption. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4676989: Semeru - Semeru volcano eruption - Semeru volcano eruption in June 2008. This explosive active volcano is 3676 metres from the highest point of the island of Java in Indonesia. It's a stratovolcano located on the Pacific belt of fire. Volcanic eruption of Semeru in june 2008. This active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific Ring of fire. With an elevation of 3676 meters, this stratovolcano is the tallest mountain on the island of Java / Bridgeman Images
PIX4676920: Anak Krakatau volcano eruption - Anak Krakatau volcano - Anak Krakatau volcano eruption in May 2008. This explosive-type active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific belt of fire. The Anak Krakatau (the “son of Krakatoa”) appeared in 1927 on the remains of the terrible explosion of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruption of Anak Krakatau in May 2008. This active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific Ring of fire. Anak Krakatau, which means child of Kratatau,””” emerged from the sea in 1928 replacing the Krakatau craters destroyed in the 1883 eruption. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4676930: Anak Krakatau volcano eruption - Anak Krakatau volcano - Anak Krakatau volcano eruption in May 2008. This explosive-type active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific belt of fire. The Anak Krakatau (the “son of Krakatoa”) appeared in 1927 on the remains of the terrible explosion of Krakatoa in 1883. Volcanic eruption of Anak Krakatau in May 2008. This active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific Ring of fire. Anak Krakatau, which means child of Kratatau,””” emerged from the sea in 1928 replacing the Krakatau craters destroyed in the 1883 eruption. / Bridgeman Images
PIX4677031: Semeru volcanic eruption at night with lighting - Semeru volcanic eruption during the eruption of Semeru volcano in June 2008. This explosive active volcano is 3676 metres from the highest point of the island of Java in Indonesia. It's a stratovolcano located on the Pacific belt of fire. Lightning during volcanic eruption of Semeru seen at night in june 2008. This active volcano is located in Indonesia on the Pacific Ring of fire. With an elevation of 3676 meters, this stratovolcano is the tallest mountain on the island of Java / Bridgeman Images
PIX4677383: Eruption of the volcano Santa Maria -Guatemala - Volcanic eruption - volcano Santa Maria - Guatemala - eruption of the Santiaguito, the active lava dome of the volcano Santa Maria in Guatemala. Ash eruption at lava dome of Santiaguito, an active part of volcano Santa Maria in Guatemala / Bridgeman Images
PIX4677264: Lava entry into the OCEAN-kilauea -Hawaii - Lava sea Entry-kilauea -Hawaii - Entering a flow of Pahoehoe lava into the Pacific Ocean. It is a type of fluid basaltic lava characteristic of the volcano shield Kilauea to Hawaii. Pahoehoe (fluid and smooth basaltic lava) sea entry from the shield volcano Kilauea, in Hawaii / Bridgeman Images