moon halo

wow. Saw an amazing moon halo tonight (my first). Spotted it when I went out with the scope about 9pm and as far as I know it is still there.

I live pretty close to an airport and the planes just happened to be flying directly thorugh the halo, drawing pronounced straight lines with their icy contrails. These were then drifting and degrading one by one over time across the halo. Spectacular stuff!

I just wish the damn camera worked...............

Yes

John McConnell and myself saw a partial moon halo on Wednesday 24th November.

Here's one I took in February...



The explanation is as follows...

It occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the Moon Halo. A similar Sun Halo may be visible during the day.

Clear Skies


MarkDJ

Yes, its still there at the moment, nice and bright, although you can hardly see anytihg else in the sky at the moment.

Yes I seen it about 12.30 granted I wasn't sure what is was but now I know...it did look amazing glad I seen it now

You mean something like this? I took this shot in January 2003
It's a cool (colder than cool) sight
www.irishastronomy.org/user_resources/fi...71322-Lunar-Halo.jpg

Keith..[/img]

Saw it myself when I got home from work at about 3am. It was HUGE! Beautiful too!

Seanie.