Monday, June 15, 2015

Cellini's Halo - we're all saints in the morning, especially on the moon


I laughed when I read about this one. There are many things in life that remain nameless, so it always gives me joy when one of those things turns out to have a name. It reminds me of Douglas Adams' book The Meaning of Liff. Here are some wikipedia examples from the book:
Examples are Shoeburyness ("The vague uncomfortable feeling you get when sitting on a seat that is still warm from somebody else's bottom") and Plymouth ("To relate an amusing story to someone without remembering that it was they who told it to you in the first place").
Cellini's Halo (aka. Heiligenschein) is the bright light that appears around the head of the shadow of a person during the early morning when the sun is low in the sky. It's particularly prominent when the ground is s covered in dew or dust.

The image above is a close up of the reflection in the visor of Buzz Aldrin. You can see that, from his perspective, there's a halo around the head of his shadow.

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