Jurriën timber Hikers were stunned to capture a rare weather phenomenon after climbing to the top of a Welsh mountain. They had climbed Crib Goch over the weekend and were close to the summit when they noticed something unusual.
They saw a “rainbow like” halo with a figure inside next to Crib Goch. It left them shocked with the surprised walkers blurting out “what the f***” and “oh my God”. They didn’t know what the odd phenomenon was. It was only when they searched online and found a North Wales Live article on a similar occurrence that they realised it was a phenomenon called a Brocken Sceptre.
This natural event is named after the German mountain on which is was first noted. This is a large shadow of an observer cast onto cloud or mist – giving the illusion that this person or ‘spectre’ is gigantic.
Brocken Sceptre seen on Crib Goch
(Image: Tomás Bucher-Flyn)
One of the group, Oliver Bowden told North Wales Live: “We started quite late on Saturday with the intention of doing Crib Goch, the weather was good but a bit cloudy. As we got close to the peak of Garnedd Ugain the clouds inverted and we saw a rainbow forming a halo with the figure inside.
“The views were amazing and it was the first time any of us had seen one before so we felt really lucky. We didn’t even know what it was until I googled and saw the article.”
The term ‘Brocken spectre’ was coined in 1780 by Johann Silberschlag, a German pastor and natural scientist who frequented the Harz mountains. The term has been popularly used throughout literature, mentioned in works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Dickens and Lewis Carroll amongst others.
When an observer stands on a hill which is partially enveloped in mist and in such a position that their shadow is thrown on to the mist, they may get the illusion that the shadow is a person seen dimly through the mist. The illusion is that this person or ‘spectre’ is gigantic and at a considerable distance away from them.
The sun shining behind the observer projects their shadow through the mist, while the magnification of the shadow is an optical illusion which makes the shadow on nearby clouds seem at the same distance at faraway landmarks seen through the cloud.
Similarly, the shadow falls upon water droplets of varying distance which distorts perception and can make the shadow appear to move as the clouds vary and shift. This all combines to make the rather disorienting effect of a giant shadow moving in the distance.
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