Brocken spectre

An optical phenomenon consisting of the elongation of the shadow of an object - usually that of the observer himself - in the direction opposite to the sun over a sea of clouds. Most commonly, that cloud bed is the top of a fog or of a stratus cloud located somewhat above the terrain. Frequently, the upper part of the human silhouette forming the Brocken spectre appears surrounded by a glory, which gives the phenomenon great visual impact. It owes its name to the highest peak of the Harz mountains, in Germany, at 1141 m of elevation. There, the German theologian and scientist Johann Esaias Silberschalg (1721-1791) observed, with amazement, the Brocken spectre generated by his own shadow, on a climb he made in 1780, and left the first known description of the aforementioned phenomenon.