Moon Halo

A Moon Halo is technically known as a 22-degree halo, as the light creates a radius of exactly 22 degrees around the Sun or Moon. This will depend on the one you’re seeing at the time when the halo is around them. The Moon Halo forms when moonlight is refracted by millions of hexagonal ice crystals that are suspended in the atmosphere. Usually, most measure the radius for this by the length of an outstretched hand at arm’s length. Due to ice crystals being involved, most assume you will only see these halos during cold times of the year or in cooler climates. Yet they can happen anywhere, especially because nighttime temperatures are often cooler anyway.

What The Sun Actually Looks Like

In Hawaii, you’ll find the National Science Foundation’s Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. It has been studying the Sun and space weather for quite a while now. In 2020, it managed to capture the highest resolution image of the Sun’s surface ever taken. It almost looks like popcorn, right? Essentially, what you’re seeing is turbulent boiling gas that of course is covering the entire Sun. The telescope captured one of the most mind-blowing science photos in history, as we’re literally seeing cell-like structures of the Sun here. Each individual cell is about the size of the state of Texas and shows absolutely violent motions that send off heat from the surface.

The Glory Phenomenon

The “Glory” phenomenon can offer us some of the most mind-blowing science photos ever. It is not hard to see how this phenomenon managed to get its name. You’ll see what seems like a rainbow but is further extended out to give a heavenly glow that is absolutely beautiful. They are caused by sunlight (sometimes moonlight) interacting with tiny water droplets that comprise mist or clouds. Normally, these optical phenomena will consist of one or more concentric rings, that get successfully dimmer as they grow outward. Usually, you’ll see a bluish center with a red outer section, but the outside can also sometimes contain a bluish appearance too.

Supercell Thunderstorm

In many ways, a supercell thunderstorm is something you probably do not want to see in person. They are potentially harmful storms that could turn into tornadoes pretty easily but are technically not a tornado themselves, in spite of what you see above. They come from the presence of a mesocyclone, which is a deep, persistently rotating updraft. That could be why these are also known as rotating thunderstorms. There are three forms of supercell thunderstorms: classic, low-precipitation, and high-precipitation. LPs are usually found in more arid environments, particularly in the United States. Where HPs are found in more moist climates.

The Northern Lights

Possibly one of the most beautiful things you can see in person, the “Northern Lights” are absolutely tremendous. Of course, we’ve probably seen dozens of images relating to this area. Yet each one seems to be among the most mind-blowing science photos because it seems like they can never get old. The real name of the area is the Aurora Borealis, and the reason these lights exist at all is pretty compelling. Solar winds come toward Earth all the time in space but our magnetosphere protects the planet from being affected by them. However, in doing so, that gives off these incredible, stunning colors and patterns.

Solar Explosion

When we talk about some of the most mind-blowing science photos, we really do not realize how much effort goes into making them. Photographer Andrew McCarthy wanted to show a solar explosion, but how he’d do so would be tough to know. There was a 1 million-mile-long jet of plasma rockets coming out of the sun, which was an epic timelapse image that McCarthy had to form. This led him to create a composite image by stacking hundreds of thousands of individual shots one on top of the other for roughly six hours. In the end, he managed to get the image you see above, showing the evolution of a coronal mass ejection.

Cosmic Cliffs

Perhaps one of the most amazing images ever taken, the Cosmic Cliffs are from an area in space called the Carina Nebula in the Milky Way Galaxy. This nebula is roughly 2,600 parsecs or 8,500 lightyears from Earth. Thus, seeing all the way to it is amazing enough. Considering this area has a complex amount of bright and dark nebulosity. The darker side makes it hard to get any visible wavelengths to come back in images but the Hubble Space Telescope managed to get a great photo. However, it is the James Webb Telescope that gave us one of the most mind-blowing science photos in history. This telescope could pick up light that Hubble could not and gave us an incredible photo as a result.

SOURCES:

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

National Weather Service (NWS)

University of Illinois

Brigham Young University

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research

National Geographic

University of Chicago

University of Oxford

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

The Guardian