A Halo Around the Moon
			
		
		
			Credit & Copyright:  
Juan Carlos Casado,
TWAN
		
		
			Have you ever seen a halo around the Moon?  
This fairly common sight occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny 
ice crystals cover much of the sky.  
Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens.  
Because 
most 
of the crystals have a similar 
elongated hexagonal shape, 
light entering one crystal face and exiting 
through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, 
which corresponds to the radius of the Moon Halo.  
A similar 
Sun Halo 
may be visible during the day.  
The town in the foreground of the 
above picture is 
San Sebastian, 
Spain.  
The distant planet 
Jupiter 
appears by chance on the 
halo's upper right.  
Exactly 
how ice-crystals form 
in clouds remains under 
investigation.