NASA shared a photo on Thursday of ice halos above a church near Füssen, in Bavaria, Germany.
The image was initially shared by the image’s author, Bastian Werner On your Instagram account. The German photographer was taking pictures near the church when he found something “really rare.”
“I rarely rate my own photos 10/10, but they really don’t get any better! For 10 years, I have made frequent trips on foggy days with negative temperatures, but I have never encountered fog on ice.
The photo did not go unnoticed by NASA, which chose it for it today’s picture on Wednesday, the 20th of this month, explaining the phenomenon on its website and on Facebook.
What causes these “unusual arcs”? NASA asks and then gives the answer: ice crystals. The US space agency says that Bastian Werner, while walking through a field of fresh snow, “entered an ice fog,” which only happens at very low temperatures, such as the negative temperatures recorded that day. Water in the atmosphere freezes and turns into ice fog. In Füssen, this icy mist reflected the rays of the setting sun behind St. Colman’s Church, forming various circles that seemed to surround it.
In this way, NASA explains, the combination of several natural elements created the scene that impressed the photographer, indicating what appear to be different halos in the image.
“First, the points are not stars, but suspended ice and snow. Next, two prominent ice halos appear: one at a 22-degree angle and the other at a 46-degree angle. Several arcs also appear, including, from top to bottom Under the sun, the ocean, the pari, the shadethat it Parhelic. Finally, the balloon arch connecting the top of the arch to the Sun is the rarest of all: a spiral arch, created by the reflection of the sides of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in a horizontal direction.
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