anthelion
Sign in to saveAlso known as anthelia
200px|right|thumb|Anthelion (bottom) and 120° parhelion (top) depicted in [[Vädersolstavlan ]] An anthelion (plural anthelia, from late Greek ανθηλιος, "opposite the sun") is a rare optical phenomenon of the halo family. It appears on the parhelic circle opposite to the Sun as a faint white spot, not unlike a sundog, and may be crossed by an X-shaped pair of diffuse arcs.
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, anthelion is referenced by 13 other articles, and connects out to Sun, Greek and rainbow.
It is catalogued under the topic Atmospheric optical phenomena.
Its subject is documented across 13 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- atmospheric optical phenomenon
- Image
- Anthelion 120 parhelion Vädersolstavlan.jpg
Show 1 more fact
- described by source
- Encyclopædia Britannica 11th edition
Sources (1)
via Wikidata · CC0
~2 min read
Encyclopedic overview
3 sectionsContents
- See also
- References
- External links
200px|right|thumb|Anthelion (bottom) and 120° parhelion (top) depicted in [[Vädersolstavlan ]] An anthelion (plural anthelia, from late Greek ανθηλιος, "opposite the sun") is a rare optical phenomenon of the halo family. It appears on the parhelic circle opposite to the Sun as a faint white spot, not unlike a sundog, and may be crossed by an X-shaped pair of diffuse arcs.
How anthelia are formed is disputed. Walter Tape, among others, has argued they are not separate haloes, but simply where various haloes caused by horizontally oriented column-shaped ice crystals coincide on the parhelic circle to create a bright spot. If this theory is correct, anthelia should only appear together with these other haloes.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “anthelion” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.