Flying long hours to visit friends and family this Thanksgiving? Dreading the trip? Try watching out for things that can only be seen from the window of an airplane. Here’s a snippet from NASA:"Both sides of the aircraft have their own sights," says Cowley. "On the side opposite the sun, the main thing to look for is the glory. Clouds below the aircraft are required. They are the canvas on which the glory is 'painted.'"
"Look toward the antisolar point, the place in the clouds directly opposite the sun," he instructs. "There, if the aircraft is low enough, you will find the shadow of the plane. Surrounding the shadow is the glory--a bright white glow surrounded by one or more shimmering rings of color."
"These rings are formed when light is scattered backwards by individual water droplets in the cloud. The more uniform the size of the droplets, the more rings you will see. They swell and contract as you travel over clouds with smaller or larger droplets."
Read the full article from the following link.
Link & Image: NASA
Tags: Aircraft | Plane | Optics
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