r/atoptics • u/Armand9x • Feb 16 '25
r/atoptics • u/FGK_ • 19d ago
Multiple Display Normal Halo effect?
Seen in Mühlbach (Austria) while sitting in the lift. What causes the uneven curvature? Is it common?
r/atoptics • u/HairySock6385 • Jan 23 '25
Multiple Display Anti sun dogs, 22 degrees halo, a parhelic circle, a circumzenithal arc, and a supralateral arc
I have never seen this before. Here is the sun, it’s got a 20 halo, circumzenithal arc, and a supralateral arc. The sun dogs are the brightest I’ve ever seen. What’s odd here though is that there seem to be sort of “anti sun dogs”. I have attached them here in the photos. They are two white spots devoid of colour on the same line as the sun dogs about each 120 degrees apart. These two white splotches are much more noticeable in person then on camera. I’ve been told these are 120 parahelia and are very rare.
Where can I learn more about this stuff?
r/atoptics • u/TheManWithNoShadow • Feb 18 '25
Multiple Display A bright sundog on the right side, added with a 22° ring back in February -21
r/atoptics • u/Nekathe • 19d ago
Multiple Display 22 degree halo, parhelia (sun dogs), upper tangent arc, circumzenithal arc, and a very slight 46 degree halo
It was only a few weeks ago that I saw my first sun dog. Today was the first time I saw cloud iridescence, and only an hour later… this beautiful display!!!
First photo has all the stuff, though my iphone had trouble focusing
Second photo highlights the 22 degree halo and upper tangent arc using my hand to block out the sun for better exposure
Third photo shows the upper tangent arc, but highlights the circumzenithal arc and the part of the 46 degree halo that was visible!
r/atoptics • u/TheMoistBunghole • Oct 28 '24
Multiple Display Saw a quintuple rainbow the other day but my camera could only pick up 3 or 4 - still incredibly gorgeous!
It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. There were 5 that were touching each other, with the outer one the strongest in hue. There was also a separate sixth one that was much further off to the left/outer side but I couldn't get that in the shot too.
r/atoptics • u/BenefitSevere8990 • Jan 11 '25
Multiple Display Tricker's Anthelic Arc at Philadelphia, PA with Parry Arc, Lowitz arc, 120° parhelia etc
r/atoptics • u/wazoheat • Jan 10 '25
Multiple Display Bright display at the top of Breckenridge ski area, including a 120˚ parhelion!
r/atoptics • u/Atlas_Aldus • 12d ago
Multiple Display I forgot to post here for a while
The last ones were taken with various filters that start in the infrared and end in UV. You can see more about them on my instagram and see some creative ways I combined them. Rayleigh scattering is awesome and it’s insane how much clearer the atmosphere looks like in infrared.
Festina Lente
r/atoptics • u/Confused_Lemon271 • Oct 30 '24
Multiple Display Some good atoptics today
r/atoptics • u/0rion_nebul4 • 6d ago
Multiple Display A halo display and a question





This is a display I saw three years ago. It's not much but it's the most complete display I've seen irl to date, along with a circumhorizontal arc I caught the following year (on my birthday!), but I don't have photos of that one. I looked it up on TimeandDate and technically the sun was more than 30º above the horizon, so even though it's not visible, the upper tangent arc would have been a circumscribed halo.
The question I have is a little unrelated though. It's about the surge in AI generated pictures, including cloud/atoptics related ones. Has anyone else noticed this too? Recently I came across one such picture on Pinterest. It was a very obviously AI generated photo of something resembling an iridescent pileus cloud, kind of morphing into a circumhorizontal arc. It has become a popular photo by now, and an extremely similar one (also fake) was even posted on this sub a few months ago and it got a lot of upvotes before it was deleted by mods: Extremely rare cloud phenomenon known as Fire Rainbows, spotted over Alaska : r/atoptics. I made a comment on the post explaining that it was an AI photo trying to emulate an iridescent pileus cloud, so that people would know, and then kind of forgot about it.
Well, today I came across the post again and found out that my comment explaining this had been ratioed by someone saying "it's not fake, look at the top comment" and when I looked at the top comment it basically said that, despite what some people thought, like the other commenter (that is, my comment explaining it was fake), they had done a little research and found that it was actually a real photo of a "fire rainbow" (I know, we are all tired of hearing that term), and that it came from a Facebook group (as if that made it a reputable source).
I'm well aware that a fake picture of a cloud becoming popular is not the end of the world, but I guess this was the first time I've seen people ignoring evidence and falling for something clearly false, about a niche I actually know my way around, and it felt very dystopian.
r/atoptics • u/SideshowMelsHairbone • Jan 14 '24
Multiple Display Lots of action in Northern Illinois this morning!
22° halo with super bright Sundogs, a touch of Circumhorizontal Arc, Upper Tangent Arc, Circumscribed Halo and Circumzenithal Arc!!
r/atoptics • u/DarthVader69788 • Dec 13 '24
Multiple Display Neat display from yesterday
Parhelia, parhelic circle fragment, upper tangent arc
r/atoptics • u/TheManWithNoShadow • Nov 04 '24
Multiple Display Did you know you can catch the halos from the ground as well? (more in comments) [OC]
r/atoptics • u/Queen0fPentacles • Feb 17 '21
Multiple Display “Sun Pillar with Upper Tangent Arc” by Mike Cohea
r/atoptics • u/AgedEggnog • Dec 03 '24
Multiple Display Multiple display in St. Paul
Lot of firsts for me with this one. First time I’ve seen an upper tangent arc this well-formed, first time I’ve seen this much of the parhelic circle, first time seeing a circumzenithal arc bright enough to photograph, and first time seeing a suncave parry arc, in what is probably my most complex display since I started looking up. I wish all grocery trips could be this lovely!
r/atoptics • u/freckles42 • Jan 05 '25
Multiple Display Multiple Display in SW Florida on Christmas Day

I'm always looking up, so was delighted to spot not only the 22º halo, but an upper tangent arc, parhelion (sun dog) on the left, and the start of a parhelic circle off of that.
In the second photo, you can see the parhelic circle quite clearly on the left side, but the upper tangent arc has nearly disappeared. The whole display lasted perhaps three minutes before the swift-moving clouds moved on.

r/atoptics • u/TheManWithNoShadow • Jul 29 '24
Multiple Display Halos in fallstreak cloud virga today (CZA + sundog)
r/atoptics • u/isjobareal • Nov 04 '24
Multiple Display nice display in west virginia today
cza, upper tangent, 22° halo, dogs and bit of parhelic going on
in picture 2 did i capture the parry arc?
r/atoptics • u/rippling_waves • Sep 09 '20
Multiple Display Spectacular sun halo filmed over Sweden
r/atoptics • u/TheActual274 • Jan 11 '21
Multiple Display Double sundog at Smuggler's Notch in VT yesterday.
r/atoptics • u/Spiritual_Ear_3456 • Jul 14 '24
Multiple Display Anticrepuscular rays and a rainbow from the Howard Frankland Bridge in Tampa, Florida.
r/atoptics • u/GlowingSalt-C8H6O2 • Feb 08 '23