New halotype observed

Couple of days ago, there was dropped a very nice observation into Taivaanvahti -database. There was a set of images, showing a new previously unidentified type of halo. It was located approx in the middle of upper parts of 22 ring and lower part of CZA. Haloarc is curving slightly upwards. See Marko Mikkilä's observation details here:

http://www.taivaanvahti.fi/observations/show/15998

The name of halo is not known yet. Also the fact, what kind of crystals this halo would require, is still unsure. According to text, there is already a preliminary simulations done. Still there is no data available publicly. Hopefully we hear more of this, in near future...

Seawater bow at Utö

My company photography club made a trip to Finland archipelago / Utö, at October 2012. There I got captured few images, related to optical phenomenon. Origin of seawater bow is same as in normal rainbow, light is reflected inside of seawater droplet.

Winter scenery and halos

Little bit over one month ago, I had a trip to Pallas / Yllästunturi national park at northern Finland. We were snowshoeing there, with few colleagues from my company's photography club. These was cold and fresh winter air available, here's two halo images as sample:

Optics Picture of the Day - Fograys

Few days ago I got my image published at Les Cowleys site, you can see it here. Image was taken at Myllykoski, near the city of Kuusamo in February 2011.

That particular place is suitable for photographing fograys, since on many clear winterdays with sunshine - fog rises from the unfrozen river and sun draws it beautiful rays to patchy fog layers.

Start of aurora season

Two messages about auroras and both sides of the summer... It maybe (?) is a sign that nights are getting darker. Last friday/saturday night, there was a good display at Espoo.

Peak of the show happened little bit before 1am, lasting about 10 minutes. Auroras were easily seen on the northern sky. They were expanding all the way between NW and NE sky. Greenish curtain showed approx in 20 degrees height, all the way up to near zenith. Little movements were visible and vertical "bars" rised to zenith over the curtain.

I messed up with my camera, so no photos this time. Nice aurora disply, still...

Auroras at Espoo

Yesterday evening and last night - there was a faint auroral belt on the northern sky of Espoo city. The belt rise approximately to 25 degrees. It looked like fuzzy / diffuse arc. It was visible all the way from the northeast to nortwest part of sky.

Nacreous clouds

I had nice suprise, when I was returning to Espoo from "digikuvaajat" meeting held at Hauho. Sun was setting behing the treelines, and sky was colourful. Low in the sky at direction of sunset, there was some wavy clouds visible. Nacreous clouds !!! It is first time for spotting them in 2011. Latest really beutiful nacreous clouds, I have seen man years ago (too long in my opinion). If I correctly remember, it was 1995.

Evening rainbows

This week one evening rainshower offered a possibility to photography. FMI testbed map provided radar data to follow movement of rainshower, useful application indeed. Most importantly, it is free !

First image was taken with Sigma 4.5/2.8 lens, attached to Nikon D200. It was difficult to get the composition as you want it to be...
The image below, is taken with same D200 and diagonal fisheye (10.5mm/2.8 Nikon). This is the image I like most...
Soon the whole rainshower has passed by, and only parts of the bow are visible...

Atmospheric photos, exhibition at Tampere

Today I spend a warm summer day at Tampere -city. My main goal was to visit at Särkänniemi adventure park, to see what local photographers have collected for photo exhibition.

Nice images indeed, very nice... The bigger size in prints (usually above A3) makes a good photo, to really stand out from the mass. Intense noctilucent clouds on sky, calm water surface on lake. Contrast for every occasions.

If you have visit to near Tampere, I recommend to pop up at Särkänniemi, for this atmospheric photo exhibition. It is located there, in the hallway of the planetarium premises.

Full moon imaging

Yesterday was not a successful day, clouds blocked visibility at southern Finland. So no photographs then... Next possibility for full moon is on 6th August 2009.

Here's my last image of full moon at 9th May 2009. Moon is distorted by mirage effect (different temperatures at air layers). This I consider my best image of full moon.

In couple of weeks I should get some detailed explanation of this mirage effect, and some comments what I heard - it was not so typical to see distorted moon at relatively high altitudes like in this case. When I have feedback, I'll get back to this...

I made also a composite image, to clear out how moon shape was distorted. It was interesting to follow...

New type of halo found

At 5th December 2008, couple of web sites informed about new halo type, that was discovered by Marko Riikonen, at northern Finland. It is located below Moilanen arc. See discussion and images about this topic at:

Tähdet ja avaruus -news
Ice crystal halos - blog
Tähdet ja avaruus 8/2008 -magazine
Atmospheric Optics - Les Cowley

Sunset colours

On clear and chilly Monday evening I was walking out on company parking place, half an hour after sunset. In the opposite side of sun, earth shadow and belt of Venus were rising above horizon. The sky was strangely colored around sun, in a large area.

Light pink hue was easily visible. Normally during sunset sky turns first to orange and then red, even deep red. I remembered that earlier this year there was a volcanic eruption at Mount Kasatochi, located at Aleutian islands.

I assume this event could cause the colors, but I sill am not 100% sure... During the autumn reports of such colorful sunsets are received from Sweden. Many reports also have been coming from central Europe.

Before this eruption (if I correctly remember) was the famous mount Pinatubo eruption. Huge amount of aerosols and small dust particles were blown into upper atmosphere.

Trip to Kilpisjärvi

During mid-september 2008 I had a nature photography trip to northern Finland, i.e. Kilpisjärvi. In addition to landscape and nature details photographs, I captured some images of atmospheric phenomenon. I am again waiting the next opportunity to get there with my camera, so beautiful the landscape is there when the lightning conditions are good...

Auroras above lake Kilpisjärvi.

Sunpillar above lake Kilpisjärvi.

Misty morning and fogbow.

Halo observing

Last few months has been time when only few halos I have been able to notice (per one month). Due to daily work, I cannot observe the skies all-time. Yesterday (9th Oct 2008) I saw few nice common halos at Espoo. 22 ring, 22 upper tangent arc and circumzenithal arc were visible.

I store all my halo observations to Havainto.net -database. If images are available, I'll upload those there also. Halo observing is great fun, just remember to watch at the sky...

Autumn lightning

Late today evening it was nice again to see some natures beautiful lights. At coastal area of southern Finland, there is a rainshower passing by. Some lightning is currently visible behind the clouds. Unfortunately no direct lightning strikes are seen, since the thunderstorm is not very "active". No sounds were heard at my hometown Espoo.

One nice occasion was that, at the same time it started to rain harder, and the "Big Dipper" was visible through the clear cloud area. I will continue to follow situation for a while, at local FLC -lightning radars...