Astronomy Picture of the Day -- A Heart Shaped Lenticular Cloud

NASA ^ | February 14, 2016 | (see photo credit)

[SunkenCiv]

Explanation: Can a cloud love a mountain? Perhaps not, but on a Valentine's Day like today, one might be prone to seeing heart-shaped symbols where they don't actually exist. A fleeting pareidolia, the featured heart was really a lenticular cloud that appeared one morning last July above Mount Cook National Park in New Zealand. A companion video shows the lenticular cloud was mostly stationary in the sky but shifted and vibrated with surrounding winds. The cloud's red color was caused by the Sun rising off the frame to the right. Lenticular clouds are somewhat rare but can form in air that passes over a mountain. Then, vertical eddies may form where rising air cools past the dew point causing water carried by the air to condense into droplets. Unfortunately, this amazing sight made the fascinated videographer late for breakfast.

[SunkenCiv]

[Credit and Copyright: Michael Kunze]

[SunkenCiv]

The Big One

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[nclaurel]

God’s gift on Valentine’s Day.

[Slyfox]

[blueunicorn6]

They made me take those ink blot tests a lot when I was a kid.

Then Mom would have to come to school and I’d be sitting outside the office and she’d be telling the counselor,

“We don’t know where the little s**t comes up with answers like that.”

[gorush]

I don't know what this configuration is called. It happened near nightfall, so I refer to them as "moon clouds".

[JohnG45]

Mammatus Clouds

[lowtaxsmallgov]

Don’t fly your plane anywhere near those:
lenticular = bad

[Robert A Cook PE]

Beautiful image

[martin_fierro]

[patriot08]

Actually, this is a better shot of it:

[aviator]

If you fly your plane thru those, you will be shaken around so badly that you may not be able to read your instruments. How do I know??? Hmmm.

[gorush]

They were cool and refreshing (on a hot summer days, anyway) from a skydivers point of view. (not technically legal, but sometimes they sneak up on you, especially on night jumps) :{)

[disndat]

Happy Valentine's from Vulcan.

[SunkenCiv]

Nice!