Astrophoto: Lanzarote Sun Halo by Hans Schremmer

By Nancy Atkinson - August 21, 2011 at 8:28 PM UTC | Observing
lanzarote-halo.jpg

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A beautiful and colorful halo -- a 22 degree ring -- as seen on the island of Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, taken by

'Astrohans"

(a.k.a. Hans Schremmer) on Flickr. Hans posted that circumhorizontal arc is also visible, and that the photo was taken on May 8, 2010 in Playa Blanca, using a Canon EOS 400D Digital.

Halos form when light from the Sun or Moon is refracted by ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds (like cirrostratus clouds). A 22 degree halo is a ring of light 22 degrees from the Sun (or Moon) and is the most common type of halo observed.

See more from

Astrohans Flickr stream,

or at the

Arbeitskreis Meteore e.V website

, an astronomy club in Germany club which focuses on atmospheric phenomena and meteors.

Want to get your astrophoto featured on Universe Today? Join our Flickr group or send us your images by email (this means you're giving us permission to post them). Please explain what's in the picture, when you took it, the equipment you used, etc.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com