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Credit & Copyright: Sergio Montгfar
Explanation:
What are those colorful rings around the Moon?
A corona.
Rings like this will sometimes appear when the Moon is seen through thin clouds.
The effect is created by the quantum mechanical
diffraction of light around
individual, similarly-sized water droplets in an
intervening
but mostly-transparent cloud.
Since light of different colors has
different wavelengths,
each color diffracts differently.
Lunar Coronae are one of the few purely
quantum mechanical color effects that can be
easily seen with the unaided eye.
The
featured lunar corona was captured around a
Strawberry Moon on June 2 from
La Plata,
Argentina.
Similar coronae that form around the Sun are typically harder to see because
of the Sun's great brightness.
Huzzah:
Philae lander phones home!
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Moon - clouds - corona
Publications with words: Moon - clouds - corona
See also: