Suns, Moons and Clouds

I have got a little behind with my blog in recent weeks, so here are a few random images to keep you entertained until I get time to give a proper update!

On a sunny day at Signy, we sometimes get halos forming around the sun.  These occur when there is a thin layer of cirrus clouds in the upper atmosphere- cirrus clouds are made from tiny ice crystals, instead of raindrops, and these refract the light to form the halo.  According to the internet the correct term for it is the 22 degree halo, as apparently this is its radius of the circle- I've never actually tried to measure it!



Sometimes we get low lying layers of mist at Signy.  These occur when the air at ground level is colder that that above it, and are known as temperature inversions.  Some days it looks like a dull grey day down by the sea, but if you climb up onto the icecap you can look down upon the top of the fog bank, and the islands peaks all stand out above it, in bright sunshine.



This is the moon in Anarctica.  Yes, it is exactly the same one as at home, however, as we are at the bottom of the earth, it appears upside down.  If you look at the moon at home, then turn around and look at it upside down, through your legs, you can see how we see it here.  The stars also appear to be upside down, and we largely get a different set of constellations, although we do see a few familiar ones such as Orion (upside down), low down in the sky near the ground.  Higher in the sky we get different constellations such as the Southern Cross.



All of these however require clear skies!  In reality, all too often here it is exceedingly windy, cold and snowy.  On these days I tend not to take my camera out with me, so my pictures are always misleadingly biased towards the sunny days!