Mark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

"There's ice in them thar skies ... "

Well, the 22º halo around the Sun is due to small ice crystals at high altitude, but the iridescence in the clouds could be due to ice or small water droplets.

Either way, an interesting mix at atmospheric phenomena on a sultry July afternoon, if a little tricky to capture the right dynamic range & colour balance with just a phone camera 🤷‍♂️

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#AtmosphericOptics 🌈

A picture of the Sun high in the sky, with some light cloud. The Sun is ringed by a colourful halo with a diameter of 22º, while there are also colours in the clouds inside the ring thanks to iridescence.
ALT
Jul 5, 2026, 15:43 UTCen
Mark McCaughrean@markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

Replying to @markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

A slightly more conventional shot of the upper arc of the halo around the Sun a few minutes earlier, also with some interesting clouds, a tiny hint of iridescence, & a couple of contrails, one casting its shadow on the thin cirrus below.

#Heidelberg 🏰
#Photography 📷️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️
#AtmosphericOptics 🌈

Another picture of the Sun in a partly cloudy sky, this time showing just the bright and colourful upper part of the 22º halo, along with a diagonal contrail and its shadow.
ALT
Esslar2@flyhigh@universeodon.com

Replying to @markmccaughrean@mastodon.social

@markmccaughrean Lovely photos. They make me think of the time I had some exchanges on social media with someone I believed to be a climate scientist. I told him that I'd been a pilot in jets for a number of years and made some points about climate change and things I'd seen as a pilot to show how real it is. To my utter surprise, he started writing me about "chemtrails" and saying that I, as a pilot, somehow had something to do with them. This was so bizarre I stopped replying right away. As my late partner used to say, "Support mental health."