The Brockenspectre

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The mountain's summit is a subalpine zone with flora and fauna almost comparable to those of north Scandinavia and the Alps. A comprehensive account of this famous Gaussian survey may be found, for example, in Charles Kittel et al.

Madeleine has worked in archives and museums for years with a particular focus on photography and arts education.The subsequent erosion of the Harz mountains that followed the uplifting of the Harz during the Upper Cretaceous saw the disappearance of the protective hornfels summit, thus exposing the granite that had crystallized underground during the Upper Carboniferous. In The Radiant Warrior (1989), part of Leo Frankowski's Conrad Stargard series, the protagonist uses the Brocken Spectre to instill confidence in his recruits.

His work led directly to the cloud chamber, a device for detecting ionizing radiation for which he and Arthur Compton received the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1927. He has taught Tomas to love the mountains, but also to fear their dangers -- the winds and blizzards, the treacherous paths, the giddying slopes. The summit, however, does not have an alpine climate, as the average summer temperature is above 10°C (50°F). The Brocken spectre was observed and described by Johann Silberschlag in 1780, and has often been recorded in literature about the region. The 100-kilometre-long (62mi) Harz Witches' Path also runs from the Brocken eastwards to Thale and westwards via Torfhaus and Altenau to Osterode.The sun shining behind the observer projects their shadow through the mist, while the magnification of the shadow is an optical illusion which makes the shadow on nearby clouds seem at the same distance at faraway landmarks seen through the cloud. The climbing enthusiast said the moment was 'creepy' as the illusion looked like a figure with a rainbow halo was moving towards him. It provides perfect conditions for endangered and nearly extinct species like the Eurasian lynx, wildcats and capercaillies. When they view their shadow the light is reflected back in such a way that a spooky circular ''glory'' appears around the point directly opposite the sun. The granitic plutons of the Harz – the Brocken, Ramberg and Oker plutons – emerged towards the end of the Harz mountain-building phase of the Upper Carboniferous, about 300 million years ago.