View from the East: Moon Ring

[Mousetoescamper]

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Wow, my dear Mousetoescamper! What a splendid shot!

What an incredibly beautiful view!

The clouds and the rainbow work perfectly together. And the trees off to the side are perfect.

[Mousetoescamper]

2. Thanks! It was too hazy for lunar details, but the iridescence was a delightful bonus.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. I hear that! Who needs lunar details when you have such a miraculous sky!

I especially like the way you brought out the texture in the clouds. They are just exquisite. And the iridescence! Wow.

[John1956PA]

4. Years ago, I was driving at night when a moon ring appeared.

It was in month of October, near Erie, PA. The DJ on the radio station I was listening to made mention of it. He then played a few moon-themed songs.

I think the ring phenomenon happens mostly at or near the full phase of the moon. I think that I read that it has to do with ice crystals in the earth's upper atmosphere. I think that, when the phenomenon occurs, the distance from the moon to the ring (as viewed from our vantage point on earth) is always the same.

[Mousetoescamper]

7. I've seen the phenomenon many times since my childhood

but recall only a few times when the iridescence was so striking.

A lunar halo is created when light is refracted, reflected, and dispersed through ice crystals suspended in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds located at an altitude of 20,000 feet (6,000 meters) and higher, up to 40,000 feet (12,000 meters). 

The shape of these ice crystals focuses light into a halo around the moon or the sun. As ice crystals are usually hexagonal these lunar halos are almost always the same size, with the moon (or the sun) sitting 22 degrees from the other edge of the halo — roughly the width of an outstretched hand at arm's length. 

The uniform 22-degree radius and 44-degree diameter of halos mean that both solar and lunar halos are often referred to as 22-degree halos.

This uniformity in diameter arises because ice has a specific index of reflection and the hexagonal shape of an ice crystal means when its sides are extended it forms a prism with a 60 -degree apex angle. This results in an angle of minimum deviation for light passing through the ice crystal of 21.84 degrees.

These ice crystals also demonstrate a prism effect that separates white light from the sun or is reflected by the moon into various individual colors just like the atmospheric effect that creates a rainbow.

https://www.space.com/moon-halo

[Diamond_Dog]

5. Wow, I have never seen anything like this! Very cool!

[Mousetoescamper]

8. Look to the full moon tomorrow when it's directly overhead and you might catch

the halo, if the atmospheric conditions are favorable. Sometimes the halo is faint and without color, but still worth a look.

[Diamond_Dog]

10. Thank you, I will try it.

[niyad]

6. That is so beautiful, thank you. We had almost that exact image here about

two months ago. I stood outside on the street just staring up at it for the longest time.

[Mousetoescamper]

9. Thanks and you're welcome!