A halo around the Moon could indirectly forecast that rain is on the way. <\/p>
In November 2023, a phenomenon appeared in the sky that transfixed the country. A ghostly, ethereal ring was surrounding the Moon, and it got people talking. What was causing this \u2018Moon halo\u2019? Did it really mean bad weather was on the way?<\/p>
A Moon halo appears as a luminous ring around the Moon. It\u2019s usually circular or oval in shape, and adds a somewhat ethereal glow to the night sky. And, if your photos are anything to go by, it\u2019s a brilliant target for lunar photography.<\/p>
\u201cA lunar halo is a ring of light<\/a> that appears around the Moon with the inner edge appearing red,\u201d explains\u00a0Dr Darren Baskill<\/a>, an astrophysicist\u00a0from the University of Sussex.<\/p> Put simply, Moon halos are caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere:<\/p> \u201cAs moonlight passes through randomly orientated hexagonal ice crystals, the light is reflected by at least 22 degrees, and so a ring of light forms in the sky with a radius of 22 degrees,\u201d says Baskill.<\/p> This is why the halo is also known as a ‘22-degree halo<\/a>‘ \u2013 and it can appear around the Moon or the Sun<\/a>. <\/p> \u201cHalos can form at any time of year and in any climate, as it is always cold enough at high enough altitudes for ice crystals to form.\u00a0 Only water is needed in the form of hazy thin clouds to freeze into ice crystals, which then reflect the moonlight into a halo,\u201d explains Baskill.<\/p> A lunar corona and a lunar halo are both optical phenomena that involve the interaction of moonlight with atmospheric elements, but they have distinct characteristics, as Dr Baskill explains:<\/p> \u201cA lunar corona was also visible over the UK last month.\u00a0 Appearing much smaller than a halo, only water droplets are needed, rather than ice crystals, to create the rainbow glow of a corona.\u201d<\/p> \u201cWhite moonlight is made up of all the colours of the rainbow, and as that moonlight passes through the water, it bends \u2013 diffracts \u2013 into its constituent colours, forming a circle of colours around the Moon.\u201d<\/p> \u201cThe word corona means ‘crown’, and scientists often use the word to describe what they are seeing, whether it is a crown around the Moon (a Lunar corona) or on the microscopic level, a crown around a virus (coronavirus),\u201d he says.<\/p> Although Moon haloes themselves are not direct indicators of imminent rain, as they\u2019re primarily caused by the presence of high-altitude ice crystals in the atmosphere, they are often associated with certain types of clouds<\/a>.<\/p> The types of clouds that typically produce Moon halos, such as cirrus clouds, are sometimes associated with changes in the weather. Cirrus clouds are thin, wispy clouds found at high altitudes and can precede the arrival of a warm front. Warm fronts are associated with the approach of moist air and can lead to various weather conditions, including rain.<\/p> So, while seeing a moon halo doesn’t directly mean rain is coming, it could be an indirect signal that there are high-altitude clouds in the atmosphere, and weather conditions might change. To predict rain, it’s essential to consider other weather indicators and forecasts (for example, dark clouds, a drop in atmospheric pressure, a sudden temperature drop or even your trusty moggy not wanting to go out<\/a>). <\/p> Dr Darren Baskill<\/strong> is an outreach officer and lecturer in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Sussex. He previously lectured at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, where he also initiated the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.<\/p> Read more:<\/strong><\/p> A halo around the Moon could indirectly forecast that rain is on the way. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":38237,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight.jpg",1280,993,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight-300x233.jpg",300,233,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight-768x596.jpg",768,596,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight-1024x794.jpg",800,620,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight.jpg",1280,993,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/12\/christmas-full-moon-halo-spectacular-lunar-ring-could-be-visible-tonight.jpg",1280,993,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A halo around the Moon could indirectly forecast that rain is on the way.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/38236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How does a Moon halo form?<\/strong><\/h2>
What\u2019s the difference between a lunar corona and a lunar halo?<\/strong><\/h2>
Lunar Corona:<\/strong><\/h4>
Lunar Halo:<\/strong><\/h4>
Moon halos in meteorology<\/strong><\/h2>
About our expert, Dr Darren Baskill:<\/strong><\/h3>
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