The Corona Moon

On Saturday night my Aunt Lisa hosted her annual "Turning out the Lights" holiday party. As a group of us were standing outside smoking cigars and telling stories of better days someone noticed a HUGE ring around the moon. Everyone stood and peered up at it. It was with out a doubt one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I instantly thought of my Dad. I stood there in silence for what seemed like forever just staring up at it. My Aunt Gina whispered to me that "He" was with us and watching over us. Today I received an email from my Aunt Gina with some breathtaking information about the wonderment we had witnessed on Saturday night.

Here is a pic of what we saw- it is not the actual pic as it would not show up very well on my camera phone....



The ring around the Moon is caused by the refraction of Moonlight (which of course is reflected sunlight) from ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. The shape of the ice crystals results in a focusing of the light into a ring. Since the ice crystals typically have the same shape, namely a hexagonal shape, the Moon ring is almost always the same size.

My family did research over the weekeend about this mysterious ring around the moon and found that it is often referred to as the "Corona Ring". For those of you that knew my Dad, you know that he was quite a Corona connaisseur, in fact at his funeral the minister raised a bottle of Corona and had one last toast to the man that I am proud to call my Dad.