Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

awesome

Options
  • 01-02-2015 10:02pm
    #1
    Maudi
    Registered Users Posts: 1,516 ✭✭✭


    Wow..just looking up tonight at our moon..can somebody explain the huge ring surrounding it tonight? Looks awesome.(over wicklow)


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    keith16
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭keith16


    I agree, awesome!


  • Options
    #3
    Captain Chaos
    Registered Users Posts: 11,174 ✭✭✭✭Captain Chaos


    It's to do with a lensing effect due to ice crystals high in the air during cold weather.


  • Options
    #4
    Ogie84
    Registered Users Posts: 83 ✭✭Ogie84


    Its incredibly impressive over Cork at the moment. The Halo, for want of a better word, is huge


  • Options
    #5
    AdamB
    Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭AdamB


    From Co. Tipperary tonight


  • Options
    #6
    jfSDAS
    Registered Users Posts: 352 ✭✭jfSDAS


    A friend in Limerick texted me last night about the lunar halo too. As keith16 and Captain Chaos say, it's an effect due to moonlight (or sunlight) passing through and being refracted in ice crystals. Les Cowley's web site http://www.atoptics.co.uk is a great introduction to the world of atmospheric optics.

    An excellent book is Tim Herd's "Kaleidoscope Sky" which is available for a few euro on sites like Amazon or via http://www.bookfinder.com

    I've quite a few books on meteorological optics on the shelf at home such as Minnaert's classic "Light and Color in the Outdoors" and "Color and Light in Nature" by David Lynch/William Livingston. Another worthwhile addition is "Out of the Blue: The 24 hour skywatcher's guide" by John Naylor. If I was to say which book of the three to source first I'd go for Naylor's because it contains a lot of material on observing the sky with the unaided eye.

    Keep looking up!

    John


  • Advertisement
Advertisement