The Spectre of KilimanjaroMeru GopalanAward: Top 100
School: montgomery blair high school The Brocken Spectre is a unique type of shadow which mostly occurs on high mountaintops and more recently outside of planes. It can be accompanied by a rainbow halo known as a Glory which forms a circular band around the shadow, in a way that rainbows usually do not. The explanation for Glories is primarily quantum mechanical and the exact mechanism of formation is difficult to understand, but the broad idea behind their creation is that the fog droplets in the area scatter the incident light, with some of it going towards the observer. Due to light acting like a wave, it participates in Mie Scattering with the fog droplets and is diffracted to the observer. The shadow is also freakishly large in many cases, which make for a truly unique spectacle. Attached is a Brocken Spectre of a plane I was aboard flying through Amboseli National Park in Kenya, where we enjoyed a view of Mount Kilimanjaro. 
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