Sometimes it is possible to make a deliberate attempt to photograph something predicted by simulations. On the night of 6/7 January we made such an attempt on the diffuse spots of light that in simulations are seen next to the divergent light subparhelion.

The effect is formed by a mixture of subparhelic circle raypaths, including 3157 raypath and sub-120° parhelion raypath. Its exact shape and position depends significantly on the crystal shape, like for the Liljequist parhelia.

To obtain an omnidirectional secondary light source that was bright enough we pointed the lamp directly to the snow surface. We took photos, looked at them more closely the next day, and there it was – those smudges of light predicted by simulations.

The photo above is actually from a slightly better case on the night of 18/19 January. Next to it is a simulation. Below is the one on the 6/7th.

Nicolas Lefaudeux / Marko Riikonen / Jarmo Moilanen / Marko Mikkilä

Here is a photo of a diamond dust odd radius display in spotlight beam. Of the less commonly seen halos visible are lower 20° and upper 35° plate arcs.

The image which is a stack of several photos, was taken in Rovaniemi on the night of 6/7 January. The odd radius stuff seemed confined to this particular location, Rikanaapa bog, to which we paid several visits during the night. From our observations and the photos taken it looks like the display remained there pretty much unchanged through the whole long night. The crystal swarm originated from snow guns 6 km away.

The version above, which shows the halos best, is done with the “blue-minus-red” method. Below is also a version with minimal intervention and a one with an unsharp mask.

The display has lower 24° plate arcs and it seems like there may be the lower 9° too. As the lamp is about 5 degrees below the camera, that makes these plate arcs of the 23-5 and 23-6 type respectively. In other words, the B-components for these arcs, if you will.

Nicolas Lefaudeux / Marko Mikkilä / Jarmo Moilanen / Marko Riikonen

The two images above, which are versions of one stacked image, show a torch shaped Moilanen arc. This is the shape that the halo takes when light source is about 9 degrees below horizon. Below is a simulation for that elevation.  Also shown is another photo in which the places of lamp and camera were switched, giving a more familiar looking Moilanen arc with the lamp about five degrees above the horizon. The display was photographed on the night of 5/6 January in Rovaniemi.

Marko Riikonen / Nicolas Lefaudeux

This spotlight display that was photographed in Rovaniemi on the night of 5/6 January rises the question of whether it is Wegener or Hastings arc or both together that is seen here. From the outset, as there is helic arc but no subhelic arc one could argue that it is rather the uppervex Hastings arc.

When comparing with simulations (below) it does not look that obvious anymore. The curvature and extent of the arc looks more akin to Wegener than Hastings (the side view image). And it is possible to simulate Wegener without subhelic arc by using thin plates in column orientation. Indeed, to have best agreement with the images, in all simulations thin plates were used both in Parry and column orientation.

In the image on the left the crystal h/d is 0.1 for all simulations. In the one on the right it is h/d 0.03 for rotations of 0.5 and 5 degrees, for full rotation simulation h/d 0.1 was used. Crystals are triangular, oriented in Parry orientation so that the tip is pointing up.

Well, none of these simulations come out satisfying. The light source elevation for simulations is -5 degrees.

Marko Riikonen / Nicolas Lefaudeux

– added one more image with simulation containing both Wegener and Hastings

Has anyone seen subparhelic circle inside subparhelia? Neither have I. Not before stacking the photos from the latter part of the 12/13 January night. In one of the stacks this missing segment is seen faintly inside subparhelia. The version of the image above, made by Nicolas Lefaudeux, was done with emphasis on getting the segment stand out as clearly as possible.

Below is a more conventional looking version of the image and simulation. The plate oriented crystals in the simulation were fully triangular. Regular hexagons do not make the missing segment, except at very high light source elevations.

What else? The arcs that in Finland these days are called the Schulthess arcs are quite well defined, especially in the last photo set of the night (below). One sees both concave and convex components extending from subparhelia to parhelia, though the latter component seems to have a gap around the horizon, not reproduced by the simulation. I have never seen in sun display photos the concave component between parhelia and horizon. It is always just the convex component that is visible.

Marko Riikonen

More photos from the 12/13 January night. The image above is a view opposite to the spotlight. Seen is blue circle, diffuse, Wegener and subhelic arcs. Below are two more images, the blue-minus-red image shows the “column 351/361”, which is the Kern arc equivalent of 46° supralateral arc. The lamp is about 5 degrees below the camera.

Marko Riikonen

With this post starts the presentation of January 12/13 night results in Rovaniemi. All photos are in spotlight beam. The image above is a singe frame with 30s exposure. Just basic halos there. In the rest of the images emphasis is on the crystal glitter formation that makes an intensity threshold at the zenith. The raypath for this effect, which is quite common in spotligth displays, is 3-5-7 and here it is from column oriented crystals. What’s peculiar is the psychedelic colors of individual crystals, as shown by the left side image below that is a maximum stack of four frames. In the 20 frame average stack next to it the colors are washed away. The lamp is the usual 5 degrees below horizon. Below in the smaller thumbnails are two single frames which display the colored glitter even more clearly and another maximum stack of 14 frames. Individual frames are all 30s exposures.

Marko Riikonen