Monday, January 9, 2012

A Lunar Halo


If you looked up in the night sky this past weekend you might have seen a lunar halo. This looks like a thin ring around the moon and is caused by light passing through cirrus clouds. These clouds are in the upper atmosphere and are generally made of ice crystals so as the dim light refracts through the frozen water a small rainbow is formed. Since moon light is dimmer than the sun the "rainbow" is not seen as easily. Though if you were to focus on the inside of the halo, you may see some light blues or reds. A fun fact, is that just like rainbows, everyone views the halo differently. The ice crystals create a unique halo for the person viewing it and it'll be slightly different for the person standing right next to them. I hope you got to view this weather phenomenon, if not, you are lucky this event occurs fairly often.

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