Lunar Halo over Snowy Trees
Image Credit & Copyright:
Göran Strand
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.
Exactly
how ice-crystals form
in clouds remains a topic of research.
In the
featured image taken last week from
Östersund,
Sweden,
a complete
lunar halo
was captured over
snowy trees and
rabbit tracks.