"How To Look At Halos" Notes

- the 22 Degree Halo is a brownish-blue corona that forms around the sun and/or moon when water suspended in clouds freezes
- these mostly occur in colder regions or during winter time

It is interesting that the interior arcs of these halos will never exist all in the same sky at once - the rarity of these phenomena is so profound that Elkins supposes some people merely hallucinate their own viewings of the halos (but surely there is a more qualitative scientific reasoning for their scarcity?)

I am intrigued that although Robert Greenler's book extensively maps the formation of these halos and their arcs, he fails to make a distinct connection in the most famous recording of the phenomena in the 18th century by Tobias Lowitz.

I think, as Elkins, that the mysterious and undiscovered elements of these halos creation and existence lends them a provocative voice. It speaks wonders to how we look at things that sometimes the less known about something makes it more appealing to us. If we could reason through how all these arcs are created and map out how, when, and where they would form, it would perhaps dull their effect on us.

On the other hand, an inability to explain such a phenomenon does not automatically bestow value on it as an art. It could also be said that whatever  appeal is lost as a result of a comprehensive understanding of these arcs' formation is compensated by our newfound ability to realize and understand our environment. That is to say, by understanding the process we better appreciate the product.