Ice crystals

Ice crystals – Bently Collection

The Bently Collection has 1183 records/images of snowflakes in its database arranged in categories relating to their geometry.

Check out the 8 bit frozen postcards at Antartica Dispatches, Using a palm pilot as a crude sketchbook Simon Faithfull is making a drawing a day that is then dispatched to the web via email.

Atmospheric optics is a collective name for effect of light and colour in the atmosphere caused by different conditions – obvious atmospheric optics include rainbows, sunset colours, solar rays, and the light curtains of Aurora. There is a large range of effects caused alone by ice crystals in the air, with inspiring names such as infra and supra lateral arcs and parhelic circles! Of light pillars, another category of atmospheric ice optics, we have this paragraph :

‘A light pillar can sometimes be seen above the sun when it is setting or rising. It is caused by reflection of light off the base of horizontally aligned plate ice crystals in the atmosphere. Light pillars are possible above and below the sun or moon; however, for earth-bound observers, the upper light pillar is most common, while the lower pillar is more likely when you are in an airplane flying above a cloud of ice crystals. The upper and lower light pillars at the sun can be present together with the parhelic circle and then form a giant cross in the sky, which was considered a much feared omen by ancient and medieval folklore.