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Credit & Copyright: Eric Houck
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
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 color
diffraction effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye.
The
featured image of a lunar corona was captured around
last week's full Super Moon from near
Knight's Ferry,
California,
USA.
To the right of the
full Moon is the giant orange star
Botein.
Similar coronae that form around the Sun are typically
harder to see because of the Sun's great brightness.
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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
Publications with words: Moon
See also:
- APOD: 2026 August 25 Á Earths Shadow Visualized with Lunar Eclipses
- APOD: 2026 May 11 Á Moon Setting Behind Teide Volcano
- APOD: 2026 May 9 Á Messier Craters in Stereo
- APOD: 2026 April 15 Á The ISS Transits the Moon
- APOD: 2026 April 11 Á Artemis II: Flight Day 6
- The Bay of Rainbows
- Earthset from Orion