What is the explanation for the soft, bright ring around the moon recently?
Stargazers were recently able to see the moon appeared with a soft, bright ring around it in the night sky in Savannah, GA. It was what it appeared as a phenomenon called a Lunar Halo. A ‘lunar halo’ is caused by refracted moonlight from ice crystals in the earth’s upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals focuses the refracted light, thus forming into a into a ring-like structure around the moon.
Florida, December 1, 2009 – Ring around the Moon or Lunar Halo was seen by stargazers Sunday night. The moon appeared in the night sky with a soft, bright ring around it. The “lunar halo” is caused by refracted moonlight from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere of the earth, the shape of the ice crystals atmosphere focuses the refracted light into a ring. If you try to looked closely, you could see a rainbow colors inside the ring. Mostly, lunar halos are soft white and lack vivid colors. Sources: http://www.ionlinephilippines.
