A very large ring of light in the sky with the moon in the middle?

Question

I saw this 2 years ago on christmas eve. The thin ring of light was not anywhere near the moon, because the circumference was so large it went took up the whole sky that was visible to us. However the moon was directly in the center of it. Basically the scene looked like if you drew a very large circle for the ring and then in the center drew a very small dot for the moon. What could this be????

BTW I looked for pictures of this and nothing comes anywhere close to how gigantic this circle was. You literally had to move your head to look around you and see the entire ring. We were in our yard (which is a field in the country) and could see the WHOLE sky unobstructed. To be a ring around the WHOLE sky you know it had to be huge.

Answer 1

The lunar halo is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that can be seen unexpectedly frequently for example when the weather is changing for the worse. The halo has a radius of about 22 degrees, and sometimes it's called "inner halo" or "22 degrees-halo".
When the hexagonal ice crystals are distributed at random in higher sky, the refracting angle of moonlight that enters and exits the side planes of the crystal as the figure shown is equivalent to about 22 degrees. Because ice crystals are facing various directions and floating in the sky, we can observe the refracted moonlight as a circle of light with a radius of 22 degrees. Actually the lunar halo has one more kind that appears at the position of 46 degrees in radius called "outer halo" or "46 degrees-halo". The outer halo appears by moo
nlight that enters the vertical prism face and exits at bottom basal plane (or reverse) of ice crystal.

Answer 2

If a circle forms ‘round the moon,
‘Twill rain soon.”

The circle that forms around the sun or moon is called a halo. Halos are formed by the light from the sun or moon refracting (bending) as they pass through the ice crystals that form high-level cirrus and cirrostratus clouds. These clouds do not produce rain or snow, but they often precede an advancing low pressure system which may bring bad weather.

Answer 3

This occured because ice and water molecules moved in to the higher altitudes of the earths atmosphere. It can sometimes be a sign of coming rain but is caused by that moisture coming into the upper atmosphere in small amounts as to not form a cloud. The right temperature and pressure and humidity must occur at this higher altitude for it to happen. This phenomenom has occured many times in the past.

Answer 4

What you describe sounds like a phenomenon often seen in the night sky. It's caused by moonlight shining through high-altitude ice crystals in our atmosphere and often precedes a downturn in the weather. You'll sometimes see the same thing during the daytime, only the ring is around the sun.

Answer 5

If you think that's cool, a few nights ago when it was partly cloudy, I saw a rainbow at the edge of a cloud from the moonlight. That's the first time I ever saw a rainbow at night.

Answer 6

The effect is caused by sunlight reflected from the moon and refracting through high altitude ice crystals in our atmosphere.