2021 ND Horizons Scenic Calendar
SEPTEMBER
Summer Sun Halo
Casey was on his way home from working night shift and saw this sunrise. “I was tired and had no intention of taking photos that morning, but I immediately looked for a location to snap a few shots of this rare event,” he says. “Just a few hundred yards down the road I came upon a grain field that seemed like an appropriate location. It was a very humid summer morning and everything was dew covered. The green, maturing grain field really seemed to tie the composition together.”
“The photo’s title, ‘Summer Sun Halo,’ came from the scientific term for this sun phenomenon, 22 degree halo or sun halo,” Helling continues. “The explanation behind this phenomenon is the same as the typical sundogs we see in the cold, winter months. Sundogs and halos are the result of the refraction of sunlight in thin, icy Cirrus clouds at altitudes above 20,000 feet. It is not common to see these halos in the summer, which is why this photo is so unique.”