Brokensky Ghost

Brokensky Ghost appears when Sun shines from behind a climber looking down from a ridge or peak into mist.

The light projects the climber's shadow forward through the mist, often taking bizarre angular shape caused by perspective. Increase in size of the shadow is an optical illusion and explain what the observer will measure your shadow, lying on relatively nearby clouds with a distant object surface visible through the gaps in the clouds, or when it is impossible to navigate in the fog and commensurate with the size.

In addition, the shadows fall on the water droplets located at different distances from the eye that disrupts the depth perception. The Ghost can move (sometimes quite suddenly) because of the movement of the cloud layer and density fluctuations in the cloud.

Brokensky Ghost often surrounded by a luminous halo — Gloria (colored rings of light on the cloud around the shadow). They appear directly opposite the Sun when sunlight is reflected from clouds with a uniform size of water droplets. The effect is due to diffraction of visible light.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»