I SEE IT NOW!!!!!!!
2007-12-21 13:09:27 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
You are witnessing a halo. Halos, also known as icebows, are optical phenomena that appear near or around the Sun or Moon, and sometimes near other strong light sources such as street lights. There are many types of optical halos, but they are mostly caused by ice crystals in cold cirrus clouds located 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, similarly to the rainbow.
2007-12-21 13:13:45 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Moon seen through Cirrus or cirro-stratus clouds (full of ice crystals) = halo.
Just before the arrival of a warm front, we normally get very high cirrus and cirro-stratus clouds (they are followed, very often, with thicker alto-stratus then Nimbo-stratus, the warm-front rain cloud). When light strikes the hexagonal ice crystals, it is deviated by 22 degrees.
This is why many people say that a 22 degree halo around the Sun or the Moon announces rain 24 to 48 hours after.
2007-12-21 13:16:21 · answer #2 · answered by Raymond 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very high up in the atmosphere it is much colder than it is here at ground level. Up there are ice crystals in the thin atmposphere. The ring you see is the light from the moon reflecting off of the ice crystals.
2007-12-21 13:12:40 · answer #3 · answered by bakfanlin 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No that's just some of the light reflected by the moon absorbed by the atmosphere.
2016-05-25 08:55:53 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It means there are small ice crystals in the atmosphere near you, and they refract the moon's light. Your state of apparent panic over this commonplace event tells me that you don't look at the night sky very much. You should, there are even more wondrous things to see than that.
2007-12-21 16:55:22 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've heard since a small youth that if you see one it means it is going to rain/snow within three days. From my observations this has held true for the most case over the years. The brighter and bigger the rainbow the more the chance for sure.
2007-12-21 13:26:57 · answer #6 · answered by boundlessearth 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is a lunar halo, or a lunar corona, it is an atmospheric phenomena due to light refraction they form because light passes through tiny ice crystals up in the atmosphere.
2007-12-21 13:31:36 · answer #7 · answered by Asker 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know, but around here we always say that means it's going to snow, so it may have something with moisture in the atmosphere or a cold temperature...
2007-12-21 13:13:53 · answer #8 · answered by Kyrainna 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it's a corona! (not alcohol -.-)
i thinks it's sunlight reflecting off the surface and partially being absorbed by the moon! i think.
2007-12-21 13:14:36 · answer #9 · answered by Crimson 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ive heard it means it will rain soon.
2007-12-21 13:12:16 · answer #10 · answered by Amee 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋