# Strange Ring Around the Moon **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 23, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239 "2007-04-23T02:15:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/1 "2007-04-23T02:15:39Z")
Stepped out for a smoke and looking up at the moon I noticed a faint ring around the moon,looked like a giant smoke ring.The ring wasn’t close to the moon ,imagine a quarter sitting in the middle of a frisbee,the outer edge of the frisbee would be how far the ring was away from the moon(hope that gives you some idea what I’m talking about).Any of you ever seen this before?What is it? Is it common? I am in West Michigan if anyone nearby wants to go have a look. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/2 "2007-04-23T02:18:16Z")
I’ve seen it often in Minnesota, but only on cold nights. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/3 "2007-04-23T02:24:28Z")
Are you talking about the regular ‘moon halo’ produced by ice crystals? If so, it’s reasonably common (usually you need a cool and mostly clear night in my experience). This picture shows the scale, though due to the way the picture is exposed, what you saw at night probably looked more crisp and possibly even more defined: [APOD: 2000 May 15 - A Halo Around the Moon](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html) The link also has some explanation of how it forms. It’s moonlight interacting with ice crystals in the upper atmosphere (and the distance from the moon is because of the hexagonal shape of the crystals). A similar effect can occur with light from the sun, but it’s harder to notice. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/4 "2007-04-23T02:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Stepped out for a smoke and looking up at the moon I noticed a faint ring around the moon,looked like a giant smoke ring.The ring wasn’t close to the moon ,imagine a quarter sitting in the middle of a frisbee,the outer edge of the frisbee would be how far the ring was away from the moon(hope that gives you some idea what I’m talking about).Any of you ever seen this before?What is it? Is it common? I am in West Michigan if anyone nearby wants to go have a look. [/QUOTE] [That’s the light from the moon being refracted by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.](http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moonring/) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/5 "2007-04-23T02:30:05Z")
[QUOTE=panamajack] Are you talking about the regular ‘moon halo’ produced by ice crystals? If so, it’s reasonably common (usually you need a cool and mostly clear night in my experience). This picture shows the scale, though due to the way the picture is exposed, what you saw at night probably looked more crisp and possibly even more defined: [APOD: 2000 May 15 - A Halo Around the Moon](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html) [/QUOTE] Huh…yup that’s it.Thanks guys.strange I’ve never noticed one before.Gotta get out more I guess. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/6 "2007-04-23T02:32:09Z")
One of the images on the page **David Simmons** linked to (which is otherwise a good explanation of what occurs) seems a bit misleading, since it doesn’t clearly show the orientation of the crystals. [goes into a bit more depth](http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/opt/ice/halo/22.rxml). Note that the ‘22 degrees radius’ means it covers 22 degrees of elevation in the sky. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/7 "2007-04-23T02:36:42Z")
One more question about it.Does it mean a certain weather condition is on the way? ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/8 "2007-04-23T12:49:16Z")
Yep. I think it means rain within the next 24 hours. Or so the weather folklore says. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/9 "2007-04-23T13:01:05Z")
That’s what I’d heard growing up, the ring meant rain was a comin’. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/10 "2007-04-23T13:58:17Z")
It’s called a Bishop’s Ring, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/11 "2007-04-23T15:50:34Z")
It is raining now. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/12 "2007-04-23T16:43:09Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] One more question about it.Does it mean a certain weather condition is on the way? [/QUOTE] Up in Canada it means that it is fucking freezing outside… which, in winter, is well pretty much every day 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/13 "2007-04-23T21:19:47Z")
Yeah, but it beats rings around Uranus. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2007, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/14 "2007-04-23T21:21:36Z")
I don’t know about “common,” and I don’t know about “predicting weather;” but I have seen one, and it is spectacular. One night, many years ago, I was walking to a job at night, and trudging down the railroad tracks as a shortcut. At some point, I was witness to the following tableau: The tracks (which were polished silvery ahead of me because of train use), the railroad ties, the trees on either side: all were converging at the vanishing point on the horizon ahead of me. In addition: a full moon in the sky ahead of me but also up in the sky, one of the aforementioned rings (which is an artifact of the moonlight plus ice crystals in the upper atmosphere), and a condensation trail from a jet that went from behind me to in front of me at (probably) 40,000-odd feet. At one point, the contrail not only lined up with the perspective of the moon/ring complex (so that it went through its exact center), but also with all of the perspective on the ground, and did a bullseye that was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Everything lined up just for a bit. I’ve never wished I had a camera so much in my life. After a couple of minutes, the contrail drifted off center, and the moment was over. I didn’t get a picture of it, and I haven’t tried to recreate it; but it was gorgeous. Probably something that no-one else saw, but just one of those things that you had to be in the right place at the right time to see. There used to be a link I had to a website that showed this type of thing. I don’t have it anymore; but if you dig around on “atmospheric phenomena” you can probably find some things that will resemble what you saw. ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/15 "2007-05-03T11:38:20Z")
Not to zombify the thread, but I found the website I was thinking of: > **[Atmospheric Optics](https://atoptics.co.uk/)** > > Learn about atmospheric light phenomena and how rainbows, halos, glories, coronas and more are formed. All kinds of explanations, illustrations, and photos…in case you’re curious. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/16 "2007-05-03T14:25:49Z")
I’ve seen the far-less-common ring around the sun. Same underlying cause, IIRC. When the rings form around the sun, the portion of the sky inside the ring tends to look deeper blue than the part of the sky outside the ring. ::googles:: [Photo](http://p.vtourist.com/1101987-A_ring_around_the_sun_in_Machu_Picchu_photo_Bart-Machu_Picchu.jpg) Looks like it usually, or commonly, has at least faint rainbow stripes. I didn’t see that, just a distinct monochrome ring. Impressively ominous though: you’d glance in the general direction of the sun and you’d see this huge round eye staring at you! ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/17 "2007-05-03T17:53:04Z")
I’ve seen sundogs and rainbows, and a faintly orange moon, but nothing that spectacular. Which sucks, because I’m dying to see the Northern Lights… ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/18 "2007-05-03T17:56:17Z")
We get that effect all the time here. It usually means a change in weather (usually snow or colder weather) is coming. It really is spectacular. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2007, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strange-ring-around-the-moon/401239/19 "2007-05-04T00:00:53Z")
I’ve seen it and it is really beautiful. It’s a nice change from the usual dark orange vomity sky we get here.