photo #4492868

Sometimes, the sky seems to look right back at us cloudspotters. William Barker (Member 59,964) drove with his daughter Lucy to Hawk Beach, the most southerly point of Nova Scotia, Canada. Lucy warned William not to look up as they got out of the car, for the brightness of the sky would hurt his eyes. Eventually, William couldn’t resist and saw a 22-degree halo peeking through the thin veil of Cirrostratus fibratus clouds. This optical effect is the result of sunlight bending, or refracting, as it shines through the tiny hexagonal ice crystals like the ones that must have made up this high cloud. Lucy was right to warn her dad against looking directly at the Sun. When it is shining through thin cloud like this, you have to be careful to hold up a hand to block out the Sun itself. But watching the sky more generally was something she was keen to encourage in him: ‘A week after we saw the halo,’ William told us, ‘Lucy gave me a membership of this unusual Society.’