What they had seen were 'sundogs', created by microscopic ice crystals in
high wispy cirrus clouds, bending sunlight like glass prisms so that a pair
of 'ghost' images of the sun appeared alongside the real sun. It's more
common than you'd think - watch out for a veil of cirrus cloud over the sun
on a bright day. Small wonder that these sorts of optical phenomena can
easily be taken as religious signs. One memorable case was the tragic
mountaineering expedition led by Edward Whymper on the first ascent of the
Matterhorn in 1865. They mountaineers reached the peak but on their descent
tragedy struck when four of the men fell down a precipice to their deaths.
Later that evening Whymper saw an amazing vision: a circle of light with
three crosses in the sky. "The ghostly apparitions of light hung motionless;
it was a strange and awesome sight, unique to me and indescribably imposing
at such a moment." Whymper had seen sunlight split by a veil of thin cloud
into a large bow, part of a horizontal circle with vertical pillars of light
crossing it. A similar sort of horizontal band can also be seen when you
look at a light through a window smeared with grease in one direction or
reflected by finely ribbed glass; the band of light is always seen at right
angles to the ripples. Mountaineers also see ghosts! Huge shadowy spectres
called Brocken Spectres, after the Brocken peak in Germany, are created by
the shadows of mountaineers projected onto low clouds and reflected back by
the tiny water droplets in the mist. Probably the commonest light show in
the sky are mirages. They can bend light over the horizon so that people as
far as Hastings have clearly seen the French coast across the English
Channel, and sailors in Dublin Bay have claimed to see Mount Snowdon a 100
miles away.



"Joe" wrote in message
om...
Seen Fata Morgana at sea?

If so what did you see and why is it different than the usual?

Good for 4 asa points


What is a conjunction in the celestial navigation arena. And why are they
useful?

Good for 7 asa points

Joe