Brocken Spectre: Hikers In Mount Rainier National Park Capture Rare Optical Phenomenon On Camera


Hiker couple Radka and Chris Chapin were on a hiking trip inside the Mount Rainier National Park on Saturday when they captured something amazing on their camera. The duo, who were hiking the Tamanos Mountain inside the park, witnessed a rare phenomenon called the “Brocken Spectre” and also managed to capture the rare occasion on camera, ABC News reports.

“We got treated to a spectacular light show with Brocken Spectre. We spent several hours on the summit! We tried to leave several times but then the Spectre would start showing again and it was so magnificent, we had to stay and watch it. We ended up hiking out with headlamps ? “

The Brocken Spectre is a rare phenomenon that happens when the rays of the Sun projects your own shadow on top of a rainbow colored halo. Various factors need to come in perfect order for a brocken spectre to happen. It requires sunshine, the person needs to be on a higher altitude than the horizon, and there should be a layer of fog or mist below so that the shadow can be projected on to something.

As expected, the brocken spectre is always seen on the opposite side to the direction of the sun. The effect can be also be replicated on a flat surface in case the sun is low on the horizon. It is not uncommon for the brocken spectre to appear during flights when the shadow of the plane is projected on to the clouds below. Again, to be able to witness this from an aircraft, you need to be seated on the window seat on the shadow side of the aircraft. So, in case you have witnessed seeing a strange halo beneath your plane, you have seen the brocken spectre effect in action.

The news of this brocken spectre appearing and mesmerising people comes just a few days after the Inquisitr reported about another strange, but beautiful natural phenomenon that was caught on camera by people in Costa Rica. In that case, a rare cloud form known as an iridescent cloud appeared on the horizon leaving several people wondering what it was all about. Some people even thought the iridescent cloud was a sign from god and termed it the “end of times” cloud. Scientists, however, dismissed the event as a natural, but rare phenomenon.

Have you ever witnessed a brocken spectre?

[Photo by Brocken Inaglory | CC BY-SA 3.0 | via Wikimedia Commons]

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