



All images

©Marko Mikkilä,

shown with

permission.





First ever images of a Kern arc captured by Marko Mikkilä at Sotkamo, Finland on 17th November 2007. The extremely rare Kern arc is the faint upper circle. The circle's lower and brighter part is the familiar Mouse over the thumbnail for a labeled and unsharp masked version. The wide angle fisheye view is a stack of 16 individual images. Stacking brings out faint arcs whilst smoothing ambiguous variations in sky background. The Kern arc is also visible in individual images as in the example



The Kern arc completely encircles the zenith whereas the more familiar circumzenithal arc only partially does so. Visual sightings have been reported on a very few occasions including during the famous Saskatoon display of 1970. However, it has never before been photographed and Marko Mikkilä's images are a triumph. captured by Marko Mikkilä at Sotkamo, Finland on 17th November 2007. The extremely rare Kern arc is the faint upper circle. The circle's lower and brighter part is the familiar circumzenithal arc Mouse over the thumbnail for a labeled and unsharp masked version. The wide angle fisheye view is a stack of 16 individual images. Stacking brings out faint arcs whilst smoothing ambiguous variations in sky background. The Kern arc is also visible in individual images as in the example below The Kern arc completely encircles the zenith whereas the more familiar circumzenithal arc only partially does so. Visual sightings have been reported on a very few occasions including during the famous Saskatoon display of 1970. However, it has never before been photographed and Marko Mikkilä's images are a triumph.