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Cloud iridescence or irisation is a colorful optical phenomenon that occurs in a cloud and appears in the general proximity of the Sun or Moon. The colors resemble those seen in soap bubbles and oil on a water surface. It is a type of photometeor. This fairly common phenomenon is most often observed in altocumulus, [1] cirrocumulus, lenticular ...
Atmospheric optics. A colorful sky is often due to indirect sunlight being scattered off air molecules and particulates, like smog, soot, and cloud droplets, as shown in this photo of a sunset during the October 2007 California wildfires. Atmospheric optics is "the study of the optical characteristics of the atmosphere or products of ...
Backscatter (photography) The backscatter of the camera's flash by motes of dust causes unfocused orb-shaped photographic artifacts. In photography, backscatter (also called near-camera reflection[ 1 ]) is an optical phenomenon resulting in typically circular artifacts on an image, due to the camera's flash being reflected from unfocused motes ...
Water reflects light very differently from typical terrestrial materials. The reflectivity of a water surface is calculated using the Fresnel equations. At the scale of the wavelength of light even wavy water is always smooth so the light is reflected in a locally specular manner (not diffusely). The glint of light off water is a commonplace ...
Snell's window (also called Snell's circle[1] or optical man-hole[2]) is a phenomenon by which an underwater viewer sees everything above the surface through a cone of light of width of about 96 degrees. [3] This phenomenon is caused by refraction of light entering water, and is governed by Snell's Law. [4]
A light pillar or ice pillar is an atmospheric optical phenomenon in which a vertical beam of light appears to extend above and/or below a light source. The effect is created by the reflection of light from tiny ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere or that comprise high-altitude clouds (e.g. cirrostratus or cirrus clouds). [1]
A halo (from Ancient Greek ἅλως (hálōs) 'threshing floor, disk') [ 1 ] is an optical phenomenon produced by light (typically from the Sun or Moon) interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Halos can have many forms, ranging from colored or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky.
Planetshine is the dim illumination, by sunlight reflected from a planet, of all or part of the otherwise dark side of any moon orbiting the body. Planetlight is the diffuse reflection of sunlight from a planet, whose albedo can be measured. The most observed and familiar example of planetshine is earthshine on the Moon, which is most visible ...