image by Mila Zinkova, San Francisco, California
If your sky is full of clouds, look closely to see if there are other lunar phenomena to image. LPOD newcomer Mila captured this wonderful image of a corona around the thinly clouded Moon just 30 minutes before the New Year began. A corona is caused by light that is diffracted by small ice grains or water droplets. The bright center or aureole is much larger than the Moon and is produced by scattering of light of all wavelenghts. Fringing the aureole are yellow and pink and then a delicate ring of blue, green, yellow and red. Sometimes additional larger rings can be glimpsed, so I stretched Mila’s image (below) to reveal hints of two or maybe three rings, partial and right on the edge of detection. Note also that the area inside the outermost ring is much brighter than the sky beyond. A wonderful way for the a new year to begin!
Technical Details:
Dec 31, 2006, 11:30 pm local time. Canon XTI with automatic settings and 28 mm lens.
Related Links:
Mila’s stunning website
Don’t confuse a corona with a halo!
Yesterday's LPOD: Lpod Enters Year Four!
Tomorrow's LPOD: A Mystery Crater
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