Bird of paradise flowers — a cure for winter

Bird of Paradise flower in bloom,
Regina Floral Conservatory.
Photo © Shelley Banks 

Spiky orange and blue bird of paradise flowers — like temperamental birds defending their territory in banana palms — remind me of Jamaica where I lived as a child. 

A smaller varietal of bird of paradise ruled the garden along one corner of our house, feathers ruffled, each petal as sharp as a claw, rigid as a parrot's beak. 

Photo info: Taken at the Regina Floral Conservatory, February 27, 2011. 

Regina Floral Conservatory — Orchids... and Happy Birthday!

Orchids, orchids, orchids — an extravagance of orchids... Pink, yellow, white; large, small, spider-like...

At Regina`s Floral Conservatory, more orchids than anyone could need... And, as I know someone with a birthday now, Happy Birthday!

(What a relief from winter to spend time in this warm, humid greenhouse!)

Click the bottom right corner — the four directional arrows — for full screen mode.

Snowbank security

R

Please release me, let me go...
Photo © Shelley Banks

In case a two-month-old snowbank can't do the job,
this bicycle is also chained to a tree.

Photo info: 14th Avenue and Albert St., Regina, SK; Feb. 21, 2011 

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Circumzenithal and supralateral arcs -- learning to look, learning to see

Imagining image labels is one thing; having facts about photos is another.

I decided to ask an expert, Les Cowley of Atmospheric Optics (www.atoptics.co.uk), about the ice halo pictures I took this weekend in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

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The first image in the post, Sundogs, tangent arcs and double solar halos shows the edge of a second halo. What is this likely to be?

Les Cowley, Atmospheric Optics: Firstly, congratulations on capturing a beautiful ice halo display. Saskatchewan is known for its spectacular halo displays and one seen over Saskatoon in 1970 is world famous.

Photo © Shelley Banks

The inner circular halo of your display is a 22° halo formed by randomly oriented hexagonal ice crystals in the cold air. The brightening at its side is a trace of a sundog made by hexagonal plate ice crystals drifting with their large faces horizontal. Another type of crystal, a long hexagonal column, made the arc at the top of the 22° halo – an upper tangent arc.

At a distance twice as far from the sun is a halo with more widely spread colours because the sun’s rays were refracted through crystal faces angled at 90° rather than the 60° that formed the inner halos. It is probably a 46° halo but it could also be a supralateral arc. These two halos are often hard to tell apart.

What is the best way to capture huge displays like this?

LC/AO: These halos are HUGE. Ordinary camera lenses cannot get them wholly in their frames. However, a fish-eye shrinks the immensity of the sky into a few tiny pixels. Do we want that? The 46° halo is a rare event and it is immense, so large that we have to swivel our heads to span it. An ordinary lens, by showing just a section of the halo, preserves the sense of its immensity and our eye view of it. So take lots of photos (frostbite permitting!) with an ordinary lens and savour the collection.

Photo: Shelley Banks

The post Rainbow arc and solar halo and video show a faint rainbow, with a curve that follows the line of the solar halo. What is this likely to be?

LC/AO: That is part of a circumzenithal arc and when seen in its entirety the most beautiful halo of them all. There is a supratlateral arc (or 46° halo!) touching it.

Solar halos and sundogs are fairly common in winter; how common are these other two displays?

LC/AO: These big halo displays are not uncommon where it is so cold that ice crystals – diamond dust – drift nearby in the air. Sundogs are very frequent and the more spectacular displays occur maybe two, three or even more times each winter. The secret is to make a habit of searching for them whenever outdoors.

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Learning to look, learning to see.

Les Cowley quoted with permission, and thanks.

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Update, April 16, 2011: My picture of  the sun with an ice halo partially obscured by branches is the Optics Picture of the Day at Cowley's Atmospheric Optics.

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Sundogs, tangent arcs and double solar halos

Double solar halo -- a huge outer halo. Photo © SB

Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada: Atmospheric ice crystals shifted yesterday, and I saw and partially captured a brief, rare, second solar halo, two hand-spans out from the sun.

This display dominates the sky -- far too wide a range for my pocket camera. I wish I'd had a fish-eye lens.

I had to remove my gloves to use the camera for these pictures, and  a day later, my fingertips still have a phantom frostbite throb. Minus 37 degrees seeps through clothing, flesh, muscles, bone -- viciously cold in either Centigrade or Fahrenheit. 

But these winter solar displays, formed by ice crystals reflecting and refracting light, entrance me.

A single halo, like the one shown in Sundogs and Solar Halos over Wascana, is a fairly common extreme cold phenomenon. These appear about one hands-width (with your palm held near your face) away from the sun. Sundogs often flash out on either side of these halos at set positions along what's called the parhelic circle. (The other name for sundogs is parhelia.) At times, you can also see a rainbow glow at the top of the halo; that's the upper tangent arc -- apparently there is a lower one, as well, but I don't remember ever seeing one. 

It's always difficult to photograph this display without the sun at least partially obscured. And almost impossible without a wide angle lens. These images filled the width of my screen. 

So many wonders. It almost makes me wish for more extreme cold weather.

Solar halo with sundogs and upper tangent arc
(Sun partially obscured by winter branches) 

About 10 a.m., February 18, 2011.  Photo © Shelley Banks

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Update, April 16, 2011: The image of the sun and halo partially obscured by branches, above, is the Optics Picture of the Day at Atmospheric Optics.

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A Prodigal Daughter is launched

Myrna Kostash, reading
Prodigal Daughter

Edmonton writer Myrna Kostash launched her latest book, Prodigal Daughter: A Journey to Byzantium, this week at St. Peter’s College, in Muenster, Saskatchewan.

Prodigal Daughter is set in motion by a chance encounter with the icon of St. Demetrius of Thessalonica.

It was a pleasure to hear Myrna read – and have a glass of wine or two and talk about writing, in particular, creative non-fiction.

"Midnight" by Shelley Banks in Room magazine

I received an e-mail image today of the cover for the next issue of Room magazine, where my poem "Midnight" will appear.

The issue will be out in a couple of weeks. 

In the meantime, enjoy a sneak peek of the cover. 

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