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Athenaeum of Epiphanies, Oddities, & Wonders

Marvelous Feats of Nature

Sometimes we, as humans, need to be humbled. So God thought "I know, I'll just occasionally really weird them out." All joking aside though, the world does do the most perplexing things. Sometimes it is a spectacular celestial display, and sometimes it is something only noticed by those who devote their life to witnessing that one anomaly. A lot of the things on this list are still yet to be fully understood, but that doesn't mean we can't appreciate them.

Clouds

asperitas

Rare, wave-like clouds that look like a rough sea from below. Though the formation itself does not produce rainfall, asperitas have been linked to thunderstorms, often occurring after one.

lenticular

Stationary, lens-shaped clouds that form in the troposphere. They are often seen over mountains, hills, or tall buildings. They used to be, and probably still are, often mistaken for flying saucers.

mammatus

Pouch-shaped clouds that hang from the base of a cloud. A sign that severe weather, like thunderstorms, may be approaching or passing. They are most visible when the sun is low in the sky and they are usually formed in warm months.

morning glory

Being one of the rarest types of clouds, morning glory clouds only predictably form in Australia. They, as their name suggests, mostly only form in the morning and disappear when the day gets warmer.


Celestial

aurora

The aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, is visible from the Arctic, including Alaska, Canada, Iceland, and Russia. The aurora australis, also known as the southern lights, is visible from Antarctica, South Africa, Australasia, and the Southern Cone.

fire rainbows

Also known as a circumhorizontal arc, fire rainbows are a colorful, shimmering band in the sky that occurs when sunlight passes through ice crystals in cirrus clouds. They are not true rainbows nor related to fire. They can be seen from hundreds of miles away and are visible for hours.

light pillars

A striking optical phenomenon that occurs when light is refracted by ice crystals in the air. They appear as vertical beams of light that extend from a light source, such as streetlights or the sun. Light pillars are most likely to occur on very cold, humid nights with little wind.

moonbow

A rare rainbow caused by light from the moon. They are faint and sort of boring looking because the moon gives barely any light compared to the sun, but it sure sounds cool.