Ice Halos by Moonlight
Explanation:
An almost full moon on April 15 brought these
luminous apparitions to a northern spring night
over Alberta Canada.
On that night, bright moonlight
refracted and reflected by hexagonal ice crystals in
high clouds created a
complex of halos
and arcs more commonly
seen by sunlight in daytime skies.
While the colors of the arcs and moondogs or paraselenae were
just visible to the unaided eye, a blend of exposures ranging
from 30 seconds to 1/20 second was used to render this
moonlit wide-angle skyscape.
The Big Dipper at the top of the frame sits just above
a smiling and rainbow-hued
circumzenithal arc.
With Arcturus left and Regulus toward the right
the Moon is centered in its often spotted
22 degree halo.
May 15 will also see the bright light of a Full Moon shining
in Earth's night skies.
Tomorrow's Full Moon will be dimmed for a while though,
as it slides through
Earth's shadow in a total
lunar
eclipse.
Watch:
May
15-16 Total Lunar Eclipse
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
