Glories

Gowrishankar Lakshminarayanan via EarthSky

Glories are very similar to corona, except, instead of being centered around the moon or sun, they are centered around the antisolar point, which is marked by the viewer's shadow. This means that glories are formed by droplets between the viewer and their shadow, where as corona are formed by droplets between the viewer and the sun/moon.

Like coronae, glories are a result of the wave nature of light, which is noticeable when the the droplets are smaller than 1mm in diameter. Rainbow Drop Size - AtOpt Glories too are caused by diffraction from a tiny circular barrier. Corona: Glories - Hyperphysics

While coronae are not uncommon to see around the moon, glories are much rarer, mostly due to the simple fact that are are usually far fewer water droplets between us and our shadow, compared to those between us and the moon. However, specific senarios can present many water particles between the ground and viewer, such as being in an airplane, or ontop of a mountain in the fog.

Glories are responsible for what is known as Brocken spectre, or spectre of the Brocken.

Since glories are centered over the antisolarpoint, that means they will be centered over the eyes of your shadow. The combination of your shadow, the glory, and the dense fog make the eerie appearance of the Brocken spectre.

Since both glories and fogbows are produced by small droplets opposite of the sun, sometimes they can be seen together!

The Physics Problem with Glories

Glories, despite being so similar to coronae, are less easily explained. Sure, they are also caused by diffraction, but the question is how the light reflects straight from the waterdrop straight back to the viewer, its exit making a perfect 180deg angle with its entrance. While light when entering water head on at a 90deg angle will go straight and not refract, it also will not reflect back towards the viewer. But somehow, the light makes it out at a 180deg angle.

(WIP)

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