Talk:Halo (optical phenomenon)

Wanna use my photo?
We had a full moon + halo last night, and I managed to capture a couple of pretty good photos of it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrseb/6489285591/in/photostream/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/mrseb/6489238209/in/photostream/

I have no idea if anyone wants to use them for this section -- but by all means, if you do, tell me and I'll go ahead and upload them. MrSeb (talk) 15:55, 11 December 2011 (UTC)

Solar halo in the sky of Guwahati,Assam on 15th June 2021 Rinmonta (talk) 14:43, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Deletion of section on 'airplane glory'
In the version I'm looking at, there is a section on the "airplane glory", with the following explanation: "The second component is a halo which is created by the body of the airplane refracting the different wavelengths of light from the Sun before they strike the water droplets in the cloud below and are reflected back to the observer creating the illusion of a rainbow halo around the shadow." Unfortunately, this is nonsense. The glory is the result of preferential backscattering of light by small cloud droplets in the direction close to (but not at) 180 degrees from the light source. It would be present even without the body of aircraft. It depends on wave properties of light and can't be explained by refraction and internal reflection alone (unlike the rainbow). In any case, because 'airplane glory' is not a distinct phenomenon from 'glory', for which a reasonably correct and self-contained page already exists, I have deleted the section on 'airplane glory' and referred readers to the main 'glory' page Gpetty 19:35, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

I've replaced the original image with one from the same NOAA collection that has a much clearer halo. I hope I'm not stepping on any toes by doing this. Also, the original image wasn't properly thumbnailed (probably due to the linking to the NOAA photo library). I've thumbed this one and put the links in the full image, with a "(NOAA)" in the caption. The images are public domain works of the US Government but according to the photo library site, credit is required/requested. Finally, I can't find if there is a prohibition against showing people on Wikipedia (the identity of the individual used to block the sun's glare isn't listed with the image) -- if so, please go ahead and delete. --Neurophyre 21:49, 26 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Halo types
A while back sun dog and sun pillar were merged into this page and made redirects (or in the case of sun dog, a disambiguation page with text that didn't make it obvious that there was more information at this page). Recently a user came along and started adding new information about sun dogs to the disambiguation page.

Because there are so many types of halos, eventually if people start adding more information about them and pictures, this page is going to get rather unwieldy and it would be better for each distinct type of halo to have its own page and this page be a general description of a halo with wikilinks to the various types, sort of like what is done on optical phenomenon. I'm not going to revert the merging now because it's not bad as it stands, but I wanted to post this note here for future reference. Neurophyre 22:03, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

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This page should perhaps describe the generalities of ice halo formation. I.e. Sunlight refracted and reflected through atmospheric ice crystals of hexagonal prism or pyramidal shape, the importance of crystal alignment, clouds and ice fog harbouring such crystals, frequency of occurrence and halo types.

Individual halos can then have separate entries where their properties may be described in more detail and with a link to the general entry. 24 Nov 2006

Isn't Selene a Greek name rather than Latin?

Is Halo Really Greek? just wondering because Im taking a greek class and I never heard it or saw it ina dictionary. maybe you should recheck that. --Harlequin12 14:40, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Objectless Halo
Is it possible for there to be a Halo without any kind of object in the center?

For some reason, when I was around ten or 12 (I forget.), there was a giant halo in the night sky, but there was no Moon with it. (There might of been stars, I don't remember.)

So I'm just wondering. - Jigsy 18:29, 2 July 2007 (UTC)

I checked out the etymology of the word Halo. Halo is actually an English word derived the Latin word halo meaning "radiant or golden circle," it also has other etymological roots from both the Greek and Hebrew language meaning "illumination", but also "radiance".--Infopro101 02:02, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Double Cartwheel, 6 Sundogs & 360° Kern Arc
In the autumn of 1964, on the campus of the University of Richmond, VA, as the sun set, I observed the following: a 22° halo from horizon to horizon; a 46° halo from horizon to horizon; a light pillar extending about 60° above the sun; a parhelic circle extending at least 60° north and 60° south from the sun; six sundogs where the spokes of the double cartwheel crossed the two halos; and a complete 360° degree Kern arc. Each of the six sundogs was nearly as bright as the sun, itself; I recall them as circular and compact with distinct edges. The halos were nearly as colorful as the best rainbows; they were uniform in thickness and brightness from horizon to horizon. The Kern arc, likewise, had good color saturation; it was uniform, to my eyes, all the way around; the sky in the middle of the Kern arc was dark blue.

A photograph posted at http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/kern.htm comes close illustrating what I saw. I do not recall the Kern arc being brighter on the western side, as shown in the photo; so perhaps I did not witness a CZA at that time. The light pillar that I saw was much more distinct, with sharp edges, extending beyond the 46° halo.

Onerock (talk) 22:41, 8 June 2008 (UTC)

Gallery cleanup
The gallery should be replaced with real article text (since WP is an encyclopedia, not a gallery). Quite a few of the images are really interesting, but only if the accompanying text explains what optic features they exhibit, and possibly also why. The images that are added for beauty only shouldn't be here: a link to wikimedia commons with such a gallery should be a sufficient replacement, commons is the proper place for beauty without explaining texts. Rursus dixit. ( m bork3 !) 14:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I cleaned. The remaining ones have features that are interesting and needs elaborate descriptions. Rursus dixit. ( m bork3 !) 14:35, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
 * Removed due to lack of descriptions. Once pertinent descriptions are available, they may be reinserted into the article, instead of a gallery. Andreba (talk) 05:55, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

"Halo" vs "Corona"
The final section "Circular halo" claims that a 22 degree halo is known as a corona. However, according to the corona page coronas are caused by diffraction and change colour blue to red radially, whereas the 22 degree halo page says that halos are caused by refraction and proceed red to blue radially. It seems unlikely to me then that 22 degree halos should be "also known as coronas". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.189.188.213 (talk) 15:50, 24 August 2010 (UTC)


 * You are correct: this is absolutely wrong. Halos and coronas are two completely different atmospheric phenomena. I will change it. Drabkikker (talk) 15:27, 6 January 2015 (UTC)

"Halo" Can Also Be a Sign of Degenerative Eye Disease
Halos, as an "optical phenomenon", as the article is titled, can also occur when an individual is experiencing a degeneration of their eye or eyes due to disease or injury. A disambiguation link at the top of the article (to a new article on "medical halos" or a title like that) should be added, or instead a section could also be added to this article about "medically caused halos". 76.89.69.224 (talk) 17:47, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

Gallery
At the moment there is quite some redundancy in the gallery, containing several pictures that are more or less the same in appearance. I don't think any more should be added, at least not of the 22° halo. Drabkikker (talk) 09:44, 22 June 2015 (UTC)

Nimbus, icebow, gloriole?
It's been on this page for ages, but what sources do we actually have stating that a halo is "also known as a nimbus, icebow or gloriole"? "Nimbus" and "gloriole" may be synonyms of a saint's halo, but I've never come across those terms in relation to atmospheric halos. Any suggestions? Drabkikker (talk) 21:21, 7 August 2016 (UTC)


 * I have been wondering the same thing, and no sources in my know refer to "atmospheric halo" by any of these alternate names. I think it's better if we just remove the outlandish (yet unsourced) claims for now. And if someone does come up with a reliable reference and backs it up (though it's rather unlikely), we know what to do. But as for icebow, there is this Dailymail reference, especially to 22 degree halo. The name seems to be a portmanteau (correct me if I am incorrectly using this linguistic jargon) of ice and rainbow. Inimesh (talk) 02:12, 8 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the backup! Okay, I'll remove the passage then. As for "icebow": yup, that's exactly what a portmanteau is.:) It's understandable how someone would come up with that term, but apart from being unsourced, it would seem a bit misleading as it implies a close connection to rainbows. Drabkikker (talk) 05:12, 8 August 2016 (UTC)


 * You're welcome. Yeah, the word "icebow" is quite of a misnomer. Inimesh (talk) 05:25, 8 August 2016 (UTC)

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Who was Bottlinger?
Who was Bottlinger of the Bottlinger rings? (full name, date of birth, etcetera...). DannyCaes (talk) 09:38, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

"Halo (optical phenomenon" listed at Redirects for discussion
The redirect [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Halo_(optical_phenomenon&redirect=no Halo (optical phenomenon] has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at  until a consensus is reached. Utopes (talk / cont) 04:36, 11 February 2024 (UTC)