Lunar Halo & Aurora
This image captures a stunning interplay between the Northern Lights and a lunar halo over a mountain in Iceland. The green arcs of the aurora borealis stretch across the starry sky, while a bright full Moon illuminates the scene from behind a thin veil of high-altitude clouds. At the mountain’s base, a few buildings provide scale and context to this remarkable atmospheric and astronomical phenomenon.
The circular halo around the Moon is caused by the refraction of moonlight through millions of tiny ice crystals suspended in cirrostratus clouds in the upper atmosphere. These hexagonal crystals bend the light at a 22-degree angle, creating a perfectly round ring of light centered on the Moon. This 22-degree halo is a common optical phenomenon, but when combined with aurora activity, it creates a visually rare and scientifically rich composition.
Lunar Halo & Aurora
This image captures a stunning interplay between the Northern Lights and a lunar halo over a mountain in Iceland. The green arcs of the aurora borealis stretch across the starry sky, while a bright full Moon illuminates the scene from behind a thin veil of high-altitude clouds. At the mountain’s base, a few buildings provide scale and context to this remarkable atmospheric and astronomical phenomenon.
The circular halo around the Moon is caused by the refraction of moonlight through millions of tiny ice crystals suspended in cirrostratus clouds in the upper atmosphere. These hexagonal crystals bend the light at a 22-degree angle, creating a perfectly round ring of light centered on the Moon. This 22-degree halo is a common optical phenomenon, but when combined with aurora activity, it creates a visually rare and scientifically rich composition.