While I was out the other night I looked up at the almost full moon and noticed a very distinct halo around it. I’ve never seen anything like it and it kinda freaked me out. I suspect it had something to do with light and atmosphere and all that jazz.

It was a clear and cold, maybe upper 30s, when I got home at around 2AM. Now the ring was really clear, I even noticed some color. Then I realized that it was the color spectrum and that I was looking at a rainbow halo. Apparently it’s cause by the light from the moon (reflected from the sun) refracting through cirrostratus clouds which contained ice crystals. See, you learn something everyday.

Interestingly, “Cirrostratus” also happens to be the name of a short lived late 90s progressive folk rock band, whose biggest hit was titled Halo of the Moon. Wow, who knew I can make up such bullshit? Only this last part though, the rest of the meteorological stuff is all true. I tried taking pictures but my ultra compact just wasn’t up to the task. The above picture is from google, click here for more.

As seen from the Cassini spacecraft on 15 September, 2006. The little dot just above the left tip of the rings is us.

Stayed up till about 5 last night (this morning) to watch the eclipse. It was pretty amazing. You can learn more about it by watching this video. I took some pictures, but since I only have an ultra compact, this was the best I was able to get (the jpgs looked better); can’t wait to get an SLR. These picture were taken about 2 minutes apart.