Sherry Stanek shared this beautiful photo she took of the moon on Tuesday, December 26.

Treehugger.com provides the following explanation of this ring around the moon: “Also known as lunar halos, these bright white rings of light can appear anytime during the lunar calendar and any time of the year, especially in winter. But if you hope to see one, you’ll want to disregard the number one rule of stargazing: not to stargaze in cloudy weather. Lunar halos are actually caused by thin, wispy, cirrus and cirrostratus clouds and the refraction and reflection of moonlight by their ice crystals.

Similar to rainbows, lunar halos form when light interacts with water suspended in mid-air. That water is frozen and found in cirrus and cirrostratus clouds—veil-like clouds that float 20,000 plus feet (6 km) above our heads where temperatures are too gelid to remain liquid water….As moonlight shines through the cirrus clouds, it strikes the cloud’s millions of tiny ice crystals and refracts, or bends and changes direction, as it enters each. The light then refracts again as it exits a crystal’s other side. 

…like rainbows, halos around the moon (or sun) are personal. Every observer sees their own particular halo made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different from the ice crystals creating the halo observed by the person standing next to you. The sight varies from person to person depending on factors such as personal height and the elevation at the spot where you stand.”

Our thanks to Sherry Stanek for sharing this beautiful and unusual sight.

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