Particle shape is crucial to the properties of light scattered by atmospheric aerosol particles. A method of fluorescence microscopy direct observation was introduced to determine the aspect ratio distribution of aerosol particles. The result is comparable with that of the electron microscopic analysis. The measured aspect ratio distribution has been successfully applied in modeling light scattering and further in simulation of polarization measurements of the sun/sky radiometer. These efforts are expected to improve shape retrieval from skylight polarization by using directly measured aspect ratio distribution. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America