The Spectre, commonly call a mountain spectre (from German: Brockengespenst or Brocken spectre) is the magnified shadow of an observer, cast upon the clouds or fog at the antisolar point, normally below the horizon except at sunrise and sunset.

A spectre can be seen whenever there are clouds or mist beneath you and when the sun breaks through to shine upon these clouds. It is called a mountain spectre because the observer is more likely to see a spectre when observing from an elevation much higher than the horizon such as when on a mountain, hillside or even an aircraft.

The spectre is formed when light is scattered backwards by individual water droplets. They have a bright center but not nearly as bright as the corona. Their rings are delicately colored like those of the corona, blue on the inside changing through greens to red and purple outside. The ring intensities fall off much more slowly than those of the corona and sometimes three or even four rings are visible.