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Fog Corona and Crepuscular Rays of the Sun

Date:1.5.2000 Instrument:f=50mm
Place:Tenerife, Spain Observer:T. Credner, S. Kohle

© Copyright by the observers

Such colorful coronas around the sun, not to be mistaken with the corona of suns outer atmosphere, appear in clouds with small water drops, that all have similar sizes. Light scattering at such water droplets results in colorful interference rings. In the image above you can see about three to four such rings. The scattering particles were quite close as the appearance is even visible in front of the trees. The partly obscuration of the solar light by the trees produces the radial appearing crepuscular rays. In the antisolar direction an impressive colorful glory was visible together with the observers shadow in the fog.

See also:
Les Cowley: Simulation of the above image and comparison with the simultaneous Glory
M.G.J. Minnaert: "Light and Color in the Outdoors", Springer-Verlag
R. Greenler: "Rainbows, Halos, and Glories", Cambridge University Press