Tag Archives: refraction
The natural phenomenon of light pillars in the night sky above Peterborough Ontario, captured just before 2am by photographer Jay Callaghan.
It’s caused by the reflection of light (in this case, moonlight) from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces.
But you knew that.
Below: the night sky above Laramie, Wyoming by Christoph Geisler, Fort Wainwright, Alaska by Joey Holliday. and a sun pillar in San Francisco [Wikimedia Commons])
Prismatica – a mesmeric kaleidoscopic artwork (generated by the movement of the viewer and the ambient light) by Australian artist Kit Webster, who sez:
Prismatica consists of an arrangement of pyramid-shaped crystals affixed to an LCD screen and illuminated with programmed geometric animation. The animated patterns are precisely mapped to the vertices of the crystals, illuminating them individually and in formation. The animations are further refracted through the geometry of the crystals in accordance with the shifting perspective of the observer, which in turn alters the way the illuminations appear and interact with reflections of surrounding lights within the space.