Lunar halo display Sept 30th

[Michael Ellestad]

Hello Skywatchers,


Sorry it took a little to get these up on my blog. This is one of the best circumscribed halos I have seen in a long time. There's also complete parhelic circle and faint upper and lower concave parry arcs. I'd post images directly to the forum but don't know how to so I will post link to topic on my blog.

http://ohio-optics.blogspot.com/2012/10 ... -2012.html

Enjoy!


Regards,

Michael

[wolfgang hamburg]

Moin Michael,

wow! Only WOW!

I'd post images directly to the forum but don't know how to

With the urls of the pictures from your blog it's quite easy.
Syntax(replace the { with [ and } with ] for working!):
{url=url of the big picture}{img}url of the thumbnail/preview{/img}{/url}

Example with real urls from your blog:
{url=http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rMxajF4fuz8/U ... /img}{/url}
You can get the urls with a right pointing click on the pictures. In the menu choose "Properties", "Copy address" or something like this to get the url. It depends from the used browser.

After replacing the { with [ and } with ] it works:


Best regards,

[Elmar Schmidt]

Hello Michael,

wow, that fully circumscribed halo and parhelic circle are really neat!

Q: does the lack [or faintness] of sundogs [err, moondogs] (including the 120-degs) mean, that there were only columns?

Regards,

Elmar


PS: see, how easy it is to post here, so bring 'em on!

[Michael Ellestad]

Hey, Elmar,

Yep Column crystals were the dominant crystal I could faintly see the 22d parhelia but they are weak meaning mostly columns a few plates this one is a homogenous display indeed. Earlier the 22d parhelia were highly visible and the 120d parhelia were there as well.

@ Wolfgang Hamburg,

Yes WOW!!! Would be the way to say it and the fact I got both faint upper and lower concave parry arcs was nice too. I was hoping for wegener arcs but no wegener arcs. I'll have to try to do the image post.


Regards,

Michael

[wolfgang hamburg]

Moin Michael,

I think there was a moondog visible also:

I have used an unsharp mask with radius 30 and amount 4. It looks like a rainbow coloring over the leaves. May be it's better visible while processing the original pictures.

Best regards,
wolfgang

[Michael Ellestad]

Wolfgang,

Yes like I said I could see them faintly and since you usmed the image even more you can see the upper concave parry arc the lower concave is there as well in other images.


Regards,

Michael

[Heiko Ulbricht]

Hey Michael,

Incredibly fantastic! Congratulations to this sighting! I was speechless!

PS: In recent days, I spoke and wrote much in Danish. I must always consider when I write in English. Danish and English are very similar ...

[Michael Ellestad]

Hey Heiko,

Yeah that was a very nice one after going many weeks without seeing any nice halos before then I got pyramidal halos onmy way to work but that circumscribed halo with its complete parhelic circle upper/lower concave parry arcs was an awesome treat I just kept taking pic after pic after pic. I was hoping for wegener since there was nice circumscribed halo but no wegener.

This display is also on my facebook page as well

Greetings from the USA,

Michael

[Alec Jones]

Hi Michael,

What a superb display! It must have been quite exhilarating to observe such a bright and intense complex halo. 'Spectacular' just doesn't do it justice. Bravo!

On the very same evening as your display, I too saw quite an intense circumscribed 22 with well defined UTA,

http://theboltonhalotriangle.blogspot.c ... lunar.html

There definitely must have been something in the air that night! It was so bright at times that I could actually see colours in the UTA, something I've never seen before at night, living in such a built up, light infested town.

Best,

Alec

[Alexander Haußmann]

Hi guys,

I just wanted to add that your beautiful photos from the US and UK nicely illustrate that this "halo autumn 2012" was not confined to middle Europe, but must have been some larger scale phenomenon. I also got a report from some friends on a vacation trip in Portugal. Who knows what was going on in these cirrus clouds the past weeks?

@Elmar: Die USM-Variante von Micheals Foto zeigt (glaube ich) einen dieser "Parry-Außenzwickel", allerdings bei höherer Sonnen (d.h. Mond)höhe als vorher diskutiert.

Kind regards,
Alex

[Michael Theusner]

Congratulations from me as well! Fantastic images!

Have you tried stacking some of your images to increase the SNR and to minimize the effect of the cirrus clouds?

Cheers, Michael

[Michael Ellestad]

Hey Michael,

I actually toward the end took 3 pics in a row for stacking before I went into the house for the night but I can see faint upper and lower concave parry arcs in that display and today got another nice halo display and this one was odd radius with 9, 18, 22, 24, and 46d halos, 18, 23d plate arcs, circumscribed halo and upper concave parry arc have not dowloaded pics yet but will shortly.


Regards,

Michael