Solar Halo (with a sundog (on the left) and fragment of a tangent arc (on the top))
Briones Regional Park
Lafayette, CA
04-09-12

0065
5:51 p.m.

This is one of several photos that I took this evening. The photos do not do it justice!

After photographing some poppies on one of the hillsides this evening, I decided to stop by Briones and take a walk to see if there were many poppies there that I could photograph when the weather gets nice again, since a storm is moving in tonight and it's supposed to rain the rest of this week.

When I pulled into the parking lot and got out of my car, I couldn't believe that I was seeing ANOTHER solar halo!!!!!=)=)=)

It was around the same time that I saw the one at the San Pablo Reservoir too! And the conditions were the same: high clouds and the sky and clouds were changing quickly, which I noticed when I was photographing the poppies.

I took photos until a jet went through it and "ruined it" and watched it until it disappeared. It reappeared again while I was looking for poppies and I was able to get some more partial photos of it.

I guess they happen more often than I realized and I just never noticed them! Others didn't notice it tonight either until I pointed it out to them. Just like at the Reservoir, people were just doing what they were doing and not even really seeing what was around them.

We can look around, but miss so much!

There is so much beauty surrounding us if we just take the time to look and really see what is there. =)

I am so grateful that I have my eyes and that I can see with them! =)
And I am grateful for glasses and contact lenses! =) =)
And my camera too! =) =) =)
And for being alive! =) =) =) =)
Life is a gift! =) =) =) =) =)

I have had poor vision for as long as I can remember. I started wearing glasses when I was 6 years old and got contact lenses when I was 16. At one point, my vision was 20/900! Even with contact lenses, I have never been able to see 20/20 (My eyesight is corrected to about 20/30 and 20/40 with my contact lenses).

After photographing the solar halo, I found this quote on the Atmospheric Optics website that I really like:

"A halo only exists if something is there to see it. It is the effect of a collection of light rays travelling in particular directions and converging on a receiving lens be it an eye or camera. Each person sees their own halo. Someone standing only a short distance away sees another halo made from the collective glints of another set of crystals."

WOW! =)

Tags:   Briones sundog sundogs tangent arc solar halo rainbow halo ring around the sun rainbow halo around the sun 22 degree halo Lafayette, CA Briones Regional Park East Bay Regional Park water14

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Solar Halo
Briones Regional Park
Lafayette, CA
04-09-12

0067
5:51 p.m.

Tags:   Briones sundog sundogs tangent arc solar halo rainbow halo ring around the sun rainbow halo around the sun 22 degree halo Lafayette, CA Briones Regional Park East Bay Regional Park water14

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Solar Halo
Briones Regional Park
Lafayette, CA
04-09-12

0070
5:53 p.m.

The jet flying through the solar halo (leaving it's stream of engine exhaust on the right) ruined my photo opportunity in this shot (and other photos that I could have taken after this one), but the partial sundogs (on the left and right) and a partial tangent arc (on the top) are still slightly visible in this shot, so I like it anyway. =)

Tags:   Briones sundog sundogs tangent arc solar halo rainbow halo ring around the sun rainbow halo around the sun 22 degree halo Lafayette, CA Briones Regional Park East Bay Regional Park water14

© All Rights Reserved

Solar Halo
Briones Regional Park
Lafayette, CA
04-09-12

0072
5:54 p.m.

Tags:   Briones sundog sundogs tangent arc solar halo rainbow halo ring around the sun rainbow halo around the sun 22 degree halo Lafayette, CA Briones Regional Park East Bay Regional Park

© All Rights Reserved

Solar Halo
Briones Regional Park
Lafayette, CA
04-09-12

0077
6:37 p.m.

Tags:   Briones solar halo rainbow halo ring around the sun rainbow halo around the sun 22 degree halo Lafayette, CA Briones Regional Park East Bay Regional Park water14

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