Utah Skies
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Solar Phenomena

2003-02-07 -- Sun Dogs

This beautiful picture was captured at sunrise on a cold and still Park City morning.  Called sundogs, this phenomenon is caused by sunlight being refracted through ice crystals.

Taken by Don Brown with an Olympus OM1 and a 28mm lens, this image shows two parhelia on each side of the sun and one just visible at the top of the image.  The ice crystals must be preferentially oriented horizontally and the sun-observer line of sight must be close to horizontal in order to see such a site.

Sundogs are also know as mock suns, and are similar to halos (refraction through randomy oriented crystals) and sun pillars (reflection off of horizontally oriented crystals).

2003-02-06 -- Sun Pillar

A sun pillar as imaged by Anthony ArrigoSun pillars are the result of sunlight reflecting off of ice crystals in the air.  The picture on the right was taken by Anthony Arrigo using a Canon Rebel 2000 with a 28mm lens.

Along with other atmospheric optical phenomenon, pillars can be caused by the Moon and Venus, too! Terrestrial sources can create pillars, as well.

Park City sun pillar, as imaged by Don Brown Anthony kindly called Don Brown on this cold morning, who then captured this image with an Olympus OM1 and 28mm lens.

1999-01-28 -- Sun Pillar and "Diamond Dust"

...a morning sun pillar...This beautiful sun pillar was captured by Don Brown with an Olympus OM-1 at 75mm, 1/1000 sec,  f/16. Notice the sun reflecting off of the foreground ice crystals, also known as "diamond dust".  We called it "Pixie Dust" that morning...

 

Events

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"There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up." - Rex Todhunter Stout (1886-1975), US writer

News

Launch of NASA's Shuttle Endeavour Sparks Early Monday Sunrise
NASA Administrator to Hold News Briefing at Kennedy Space Center
Space Station Primed for New Era of Scientific Discoveries
NASA Selects Programmatic and Institutional Learning Services Contractor
NASA Invites Public To Tweet Their Way Into Space Next Week
Updated 2010A OT available
Journey Through the Universe – 2010
e-version of December 2009 GeminiFocus Available
2010A programs and schedule announced
2010A OT released
The Stars behind the Curtain
Black Hole Hunters Set New Distance Record
On the Trail of a Cosmic Cat
VLT Captures First Direct Spectrum of an Exoplanet
Closing the Loop for ALMA
Press Release: Galaxy Exposes its Dusty Inner Workings in New Spitzer Image
Press Release: Centuries-Old Star Mystery Coming to a Close
Whats Happening: A Quarter Century of Infrared Astronomy
Press Release: Spitzer to Unveil Biggest Milky Way View at Adler Planetarium
Press Release: Spitzer Telescope Observes Baby Brown Dwarf
Distracted Customers' Wait Times Fly
The Advantages of Being Helpless
Scientists baffled by Amazon mystery
Welcome to Atlantis and the quest for nitrogen
Third-hand smoke contains carcinogens too, study says