Monday, April 21, 2008

What is a Full Moon Ring?

FULL MOON RINGS: Sometimes the best thing about a bright full Moon is what goes on around it. Last night in Northern Ireland, Conor McDonald photographed this beautiful moon-ring:

The correct name is "lunar aureole," cousin to the better-known lunar corona. Aureoles and coronas are caused by water droplets in clouds. When the droplets are a jumble of different sizes, they produce a straw-colored ring--an aureole. When the droplets are all of the same size they produce a rainbow-colored ring--a corona. Look for both tonight.
Surjodeb Basu (/dev)

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