Pyramidal moon Halos (Rovaniemi, Finland)

[Timo Kuhmonen]

Long time, since I logged here last time... Here is pretty nice (!) display of pyramid moon halos. Taivaanvahti database, 25.12.2012 (Finland, Rovaniemi, by Tapio K.)

http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/9835

[Elmar Schmidt]

Verry niiice, Timo,

especially the totality of plate arcs making it a box shape. Thanks for posting this link!

Elmar


PS: Being a fan of "Napapiirin Sankarit" I let some of the Finnish comments translate by Babelfish, so here's the exclamation by Jari Luomanen, who saw rare halos for two lifetimes.

"Oops! Now, here is a rare delicacy, jääsumussa [an ice fog?] pyramidal halo. I think, it might have included, among other things, a 35 degrees lower parhelion on the left. Talk about a very hard level to play. As long as you get the rest of the pictures, they will be supplemented by forms. Congratulations on yours."

[Claudia Hinz]

Wow, my jaw is dropping ... which Finnish crystal magic conjure such displays in the sky??? Please more of this (also for us Germans)

Al the best for the new year and furthermore such stunning pictures!
Claudia

[Timo Kuhmonen]

for the recent time (in Taivaanvahti database), I do not have seen other remarkable displays with pyramidal moon halos. At least one observation of pyramidals exists (this case is with sunlight surface halos)
http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/9939

[Elmar Schmidt]

Lunar pyramidal halos are even rarer than solar ones, because in addition to the elusive crystals, it needs to be ca. +/-3 days around a Full Moon (the Rovaniemi display came 2,5 days before) for them to become decently bright - while the sun is present every day, in principle at least (and below the arctic circle).

Walter Tape has recorded quite a few, though. In AKM, an occasional 9-deg ring is shown. Recently, Michael Theusner reported a full fledged pyramidal ring display one day before a Full Moon here:

http://www.meteoros.de/php/viewtopic.ph ... t=theusner

The broad "ghostliness" of the 22-deg-ring area is striking here, and will (positively) shock any halo lover, when he or she first sees such pyramidal halos.

Elmar