Natural sky phenomena such as rainbows, halos, and auroras, and the atmospheric optics that cause each, one phenomenon per card.
30 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.
- What optical phenomenon creates a colorful arc in the sky when sunlight is refracted and reflected by raindrops?
- A rainbow
- What causes the separation of sunlight into its different colors within a raindrop?
- Refraction and dispersion of light
- What optical phenomenon creates a ring of light around the sun or moon, caused by ice crystals in high clouds?
- A halo
- What optical phenomenon shows a second, fainter rainbow above a primary rainbow, with colors reversed?
- A secondary rainbow
- What natural light display, caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with the atmosphere, is visible in polar regions?
- The aurora (northern or southern lights)
- What is the specific name for the aurora seen in the Northern Hemisphere?
- The aurora borealis (northern lights)
- What is the specific name for the aurora seen in the Southern Hemisphere?
- The aurora australis (southern lights)
- What optical phenomenon appears as bright spots of light on either side of the sun, caused by ice crystals?
- Sun dogs (parhelia)
- What optical illusion, common in deserts, makes distant objects appear to shimmer or show reflections of water?
- A mirage
- What optical phenomenon shows a rainbow-like halo around a shadow cast onto a cloud or fog bank, often seen from an airplane?
- A glory
- What optical phenomenon describes a colorful ring seen around the shadow of an observer's head on dew-covered grass?
- A heiligenschein (or similarly a glory effect on grass)
- What optical phenomenon causes clouds near the sun to show iridescent, rainbow-like colors?
- Cloud iridescence
- What optical phenomenon shows a bright vertical column of light extending above or below the sun, caused by flat ice crystals?
- A sun pillar (light pillar)
- What atmospheric phenomenon describes the reddish or orange sky colors seen at sunrise and sunset, caused by scattering of sunlight through more atmosphere?
- Rayleigh scattering (causing red skies at sunrise and sunset)
- What physical process explains why the sky appears blue during the day?
- Rayleigh scattering of shorter blue wavelengths of sunlight