• Friday-What'sUP February 17 - 11:42 pm

I've always considered it a heavenly place to live, here in the Keweenaw, but Susan Hooker and Frederic Koski, respectively, both had the opportunity to photograph some proof. Susan's evidence, taken during Winter Carnival at Michigan Tech, comes in the form of a sun halo, which seems perched perfectly around the peak of one of the snow statues. In the second photo, Fred validates the heavenly theory with a shot of a halo, circling the moon and stars. Both of these phenomena, are commonly formed when there is a thin covering of clouds high up in the atmosphere. These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals which act like miniature lenses and reflect light, producing something similar to a rainbow. No matter the cause, they sure emit a celestial glow!

Morning & have a great weekend everyone! Sorry I cheated with this early post, but I'll be away from my computer the rest of the day....

Morning everyone. It is COOOLLLLDDD! I'll be happy when this week is over. The snowstorm missed us again. Didn't even get a dusting. The snowmobilers are mad. But then I don't know why they buy snowmobiles around here. We hardly get any snow and they have to go to the UP or out Montana way. Whatever. Have a great weekend!

Aren't these "rainbows" around the sun often reffered to as sun dogs?

Fred~You have a great talent with that camera of yours. Wow. There are several pictures in your album that could definitely make the cover of some magazines. Keep up the great work.

Neat pics. I must admit that I have never seen a hallo around the sun...thanks Susan,
Frederic's is definately a WOW...and would definately make for a beautiful Christmas card.

Ah, snow and moonlight! As cold as it is here this morning, it was so beautiful and peaceful at 5:30 a.m. feeding our horses with the nearly full moon shining it's light on our new 5 in. of fresh snowcover! The only noise was the horses munching on their hay. Have a good day!

"Halo:...any one of a large class of atmospheric phenomena that appear as....rings....
Parhelia: ...also called mock suns or sun dogs...appear to the left and right of the sun..."
From The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Weather." pp.156 & 157.
Great photography, Sue and Fred.

WOW!! That shot at night really captures the feel of standing outside and experencing the cold peace and quiet. I have tried to take pics at night before and can never get them to turn out very well. Great job.

Fantastic picture!! I always love seeing such! Here is a website that explains it all plus alot of other interesting things:

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/phen800.htm

Have a great day everyone!
Best wishes,
Renee in AL

Karen and Doug Spaeth, from Kenosha WI, sent me this sunrise shot from one of the MTU webcams this morning.

They also added this note:
Looks like you are having some nasty winter weather! I'm sure we are
probably not alone in being grateful that MTU Winter Carnival was LAST
weekend instead of this weekend (weatherwise). We attended our very first
Winter Carnival last weekend, and had an absolutely magnificent time!

Gotta love the pics. I especially love the one with the bridge. It sure brings back home.

Nice capture Susan!

Super shots today. Safe weekend all.

Really was a storm today. Now we're paying for the beatiful winter we've had so fa. Good nite, $teve

Houghton must be closer to the sun than we are here in Colorado. It sure looks alot bigger in that picture than it does here.

Browsing with a new computer this morning. Pasty Central looks better than ever.

Now I know why they call the UP God's country!! Best kept secret around----pictures prove that.