Stuttgart look to the sky

capt.picard

Padawan Learner
hi all.
if someone is curently in stuttgart look to the moon and the perfect circle around. amazing go out and check :huh:

22:28 18.12.2010
 
A "moon dog" like this is relatively rare according to a few sites, (although I think this means rare compared to sundogs because a full, bright moon is needed). But it is more evidence of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

A few days ago I saw an interesting moon appearance here in the UK which I have never noticed before, I wonder if anyone else has. Basically it was a thin crescent moon but the rest of the sphere was still visible as a much darker area.
 
Hey guys,

On what date did this happen ? We had the same exact phenomenon around December 19th and I'm in Afghanistan at the moment. Was the first time in my life i saw such a huge halo around the moon. The moon was right above us and everyone could see it perfectly. Unfortunetaly, the pictures I took don't show it well.

So its due to ice particules in the atmosphere ?
 
We saw it here in the south of France, too. As soon as I read the post, I sent Perceval out to look. I think he tried to photograph it but without much success.
 
Funny, when I visited my family for Christmas, she told me about seeing the same thing several days before. She lives in the North East of the US.
 
Ben said:
But it is more evidence of ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Omega said:
So its due to ice particules in the atmosphere ?

It seems so. I have come across this for example: _http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonring/

(content in brackets as well as emphasis mine)

site excerpt said:
The moon can produce interesting optical effects when conditions are right. The most common of which are moon rings, moon bows, which are similar to rainbows, moon dogs and moon pillars. A rainbow is produced when sunlight is refracted through water droplets - A similar effect is produced when moon light refracts through ice crystals [...].

A Ring Around The Moon

The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.

Less typical are the halos that may be produced by different angles in the crystals. They can create halos with an angle of 46 degrees.

Anatomy of a Moon Halo

The ring that appears around the moon arises from light passing through six-sided ice crystals high in the atmosphere. These ice crystals refract, or bend, light in the same manner that a camera lens bends light. The ring has a diameter of 22° , and sometimes, if you are lucky, it is also possible to detect a second ring, 44° diameter. Thin high cirrus clouds lofting at 20,000 feet or more contain tiny ice crystals that originate from the freezing of super cooled water droplets. These crystals behave like jewels refracting and reflecting in different directions.

The origin lies in ice crystals due to Wikipedia as well: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_%28optical_phenomenon%29#Circular_halo

Wikipedia excerpt said:
A halo (ἅλως; also known as a nimbus, icebow or Gloriole) is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby air.

There are many types of ice halos. They are produced by the ice crystals in cirrus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting sunlight between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions. [...]

I remember, that similar phenomenas regarding moon (and sun) halos also were reported on SOTT once (or maybe I am wrong on this). Will try to find the link.

I find it a very fascinating phenomenon, unfortunately haven't seen anything like this myself yet. :(


EDIT: Example from SOTT added - http://www.sott.net/articles/show/165661-US-Harvest-Moon
 
Moon Halos are not easy to photograph because of the contrast between the moon and the halo itself. One may try to hide the moon from your field-of-view (a roof, a tree, your hand etc.) or let the camera being saturated (in that case operate the exposure time manually). Sometimes there are two concentric halos if you look closely, and you can see that the halo is made of colors like rainbows. Be careful of the cold while enjoying the show :)
 
I, too, have seen this from time to time here in North America. It is really neat to see. And does anyone else find it coincidental that the 'shadow' within the halo is precisely the diameter of the earth in relation to the moon? Look at the photo, the moon, and the dark area within the halo. Pretty neat. So maybe it isn't so much and 'moonbow' as it is an 'Earth halo'.... :P :halo:
 
It’s interesting that it’s the six sided water crystals that are part responsible for the moon halo and also Saturn with its six sided patterning and the formation of it’s rings…

:halo:
 

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