Corona Above Central Scotland

January 14, 2008

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Provided and copyright by: Jeanette Stafford
Summary authors & editors: Jeanette Stafford

I noticed this fabulous solar corona while traveling south from Aberdeen to Glasgow, Scotland, on September 8, 2007. A thick, low-level covering of clouds had just cleared, leaving a thinner veil of mid-level clouds, composed chiefly of water droplets. Minute but very uniform water droplets near the edges of these clouds deflected the Sun's light by the process of diffraction in such a way to produce the vivid metallic colors shown above.

Luckily, I was able to capture this memorable sight as I was in the passenger seat and had my camera to hand. When photographing the sun one should make every effort to shield the Sun's glare and take care not to view the solar disk through the camera lens.