Sunday, July 23, 2006

Subparhelic circle


On June/3/2006 at 20:20 CEST Susanne Danßmann observed a subparhelic circle on a flight from Berlin to Zurich. The elongated spot of light in the center of the image is likely a subanthelion. The shadow on the winglet suggests the photo was taken in direction of the antisolar point. There is no shadow of the airplane in the center of the subanthelion, because the airplane was high above the clouds.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Halo Meeting in Finland 14-16 July 2006

Nearly thirty halo enthusiasts from all around the world gathered to Artjärvi, Finland for a weekend of avid halo discussion. Apart from Finland there were participants from the USA, Japan, Germany, Sweden, Czech Republic and Netherlands. The meeting took place in URSA Astronomical Association's new observation centre. The programme for the meeting consisted of five sessions that included 14 presentations. The topics spanned from halo theory and simulation to photography and observation techniques as well as national observation networks and great historical displays. Slideshows of the very best photographs took place in the evenings and everybody feasted their eyes on literally hundreds of gorgeous halo images.

The event was well organised and everybody appeared to be having a good time. The exciting presentations, friendly atmosphere and the evening gatherings around the campfire all added to a great experience of shared enthusiasm. And to top it all of, beautiful NLC displays illuminated the skies on both nights.

We are all indebted to the people who dealt with the groundwork: Veikko, Marko and Jukka worked hard on all the arrangements while Krista and Aikku prepared the delicious meals. As soon as the gathering came to an end the plans for a new meeting had already started brewing among the participants.