On 1 October I got two elliptical halos and you can see them here. I would have gotten more pics but I was busy helping my mother get the house ready for the fall harvest party. I wish I could have seen the halos from the start but when I first saw it the halos were in progress. This will count as my third elliptical halo observation this year ( 1 ).
Text: Michael Ellestad
Good job Michael! Elliptical halos are difficult to spot. Although one may have some understanding of their occurence-conditions (when the sky looks suitable for their appearence), they still are so sudden and short-lived that I am amazed we get some reports of them at all. Three occasions during the same year is a good achievement.
Yep you bet Jukka!!! I would havr made more photos but when my mother needs help I gotta help especially when she has pneummonia. As far as spotting the halos go one thing Les Cowley says and that is the skies over Ohio USA are unusual because I see so much atmospheric optics and that maybe true but it mostly boils down to watching the skies on a reg. basis and know what to look for, what to look for, and where to look for and what to expect.
I hope for some more of these. I look forward to doing some more experiments with my paint gun when the temps get in the teens or singles.
Michael you the man! I think you see ellipses just because you are watching for them. Here in Finland Mika Sillanpää observed elliptical halos on six days in 1996.
Why thanks Marko! Elliptical halo 6 days in a year well I am halfway there with Mika Sillanpaa. I got hand it to you that you are thee man when it comes to doing super complex halo displays at night at your local ski resort. I wish the resort called Perfect North was not so far because I would be in 7th heaven with halos.
Nice one, Michael! Yeah, maybe 3-4 weeks, and it could be enough cold here in middle Finland to start snow guns (Himos ski resort)! But some years winter comes october and some years it takes to january so let’s hope it’s getting colder. In north here Finland is now already cold and some snow…
Coming season we should not overlook the around -15 C conditions, that never make good displays. Either the crystals are so poor that they make no halos at all, or they are very large and thin plates which make mostly pillars. During the latter, however, elliptical halos may be possible, especially if the crystals form from water fog. Probably elevated lamp is needed to see the ellipses.
Thanks Mika! Yes elliptical halos are a rare breed and there is something about them that fascinates me more than regular circlr ring halos. Right now in my area we are under a tornado watch.
@marko Have you ever gotten ellipse in diamond dust at night?
Together with Leena Virta we witnessed once elliptical halo in diamond dust. The ellipse showed around bright lamp. Had it lasted about half minute longer, we would have gotten a photo.
I think Mikkilä has a great photo of a diamond dust ellipse.
He does? where is it I gotta see it!(:
Got my fourth Elliptical halo in Indiana while visiting relatives and I watched it from start to finish.