The Spectre of Veszprem

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day, the city of Veszprem, Hungary, was only briefly haunted by this mysterious spectre. On this August morning its monstrous form hovered in the mist above municipal buildings near the town center. For this unusual self-portrait the photographer stands on the top of a twenty story building with the rising Sun directly at his back. That special geometry suggests this is an example of an atmospheric phenomenon called the Glory or sometimes “the Spectre of the Brocken”. Also seen from mountain tops and airplanes when looking opposite the Sun, the dramatic apparition is the observer’s shadow on clouds or fog, the small droplets of water scattering light back towards the Sun through complex internal reflections. © Tamas Ladanyi