Spring Sun Halo

May 27, 2025:   High clouds were the weather of the day today. From a south facing window I caught a glimpse of a Sun-halo and then noticed a second arc of light closer to the horizen. Sun-halos are mostly white to the unaided eye and to the camera as well. But by increasing the color saturation with the help of Paint-Shop-Pro image editing software, the faint rainbow colors of the arcs can be nudged out of hiding.

(Note to self: Insert long winded explanation of how Sun-halos form. Ah, ... nevermind. Just go check it out on Wiki.)

The most interesting Sun-halo I recall was on a trip to southern California. On that trip we enjoyed Pacific ocean views near Carlsbad, looking for seals on the beaches below the cliffs of Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve, a boat ride out to Catalina Island, and of course, a ride up to the famous observatory atop Mount Palomar . Visiting the historic observatory was a wish-list item of mine for many years since I was raised when Mount Palomar was the largest optical observatory in the world. The day of our ride up the windy road to the observatory was similar to today and a vivid Sun-halo made a fitting background to the observatory dome. (can't for the life of me find the picture I took of that.)