Moon Phenomenom

[science_spot]

The moon usually looks the same to us all the time.  We are accustomed to seeing it as a round rock of varying shades of gray, hanging in the sky during day or night.  There are some times when you may be lucky enough to see one of the following moon phenomenom. 

Occasionally the moon takes on an unusal appearance, and these can be quite memorable.  Many thanks to mamapotter for the idea for this post!

 

 

Red-orange moon color (picture above from backyard-astro.com) is such a beautiful sight, it is no wonder this is a common picture to find on the internet.  This visual occurs as a result of light scattering through the Earth's atmosphere.  When the moon is near the horizon, we look through a deeper section of air, so more light is scattered than when the moon is overhead.  I have seen this many times myself and it is always an incredible sight!

 

 

Moon halo (picture above taken by Rancy Brock, obtained from NOAA)

You may also enjoy this beautiful picture posted opn NASA's POD website, where they also offer a simple explanation for this optical phenomenom.  High, thin clouds containing ice crystals, which act as little lenses, refract the light from the moon to form the halo.  It's very pretty to see, and there are many great pictures on the internet if you would like to see more.

 

 

Extra Large Moon (picture above from spaceweather.com)

When viewing the moon, you may have noticed it looks significantly larger when it is near the horizon than it does high in the sky.  The size of the moon does not change during its orbit, but our perseption of its size varies, thus causing the illusion that the moon is larger during certain periods.  A few different therories exsist that try to explain this illusion.  I won't try to cover them all here, but you can read about them on Wikipedia.  A team of scientists published their quanitifed reason for this phenomenom in PNAS in 2000.

 

 

 

Moonbow (picture above from nightskyhunter.com)

The moonnow is also known as a lunar rainbow is similar to a rainbow you see during a sunshower.  It is produced from the light reflected from the moon, and the colors are so faint that the moonbow often appears white.  It will always be opposit the moon (so if the moon is in front of you, then moonbow will be behind you).  In order for a moonbow to appear, there must be rain or a large waterfall (opposit the moon), a dark sky, and a moon (the full is better because more light is reflected from it).  If the sky is not dark, you may be able to capture the moonbow on film with a very long exposure, as in this impressive picture, where you can almost see the "end of the moonbow".

 

 

You might also be interested in my past posts about the moon:

La Luna, the moon and her beautiful phases

40th Anniversaryof the Lunar Landing

Harvest Moon.... Blue Moon.....

An Explosion on the Moon

If you have never explored the Moon Maps provided by Google, I suggest taking a quick look! 

 

Tonya

AKA sunmoonstars

The Science Spot

 

[sati769leigh]

Oct. 22, 2009 at 7:04 AM

awesome post!! so beautiful. i have never seen a lunar rainbow!

[MSugarKane]

Oct. 22, 2009 at 7:41 AM

The Harvest moon is my favorite and most impressive to me.

[Momforhealth]

Oct. 22, 2009 at 9:50 AM

I have never seen a lunar rainbow either.  I know the moon halo usually means it is going to rain.  Neat post.

[mrsjosey1018200]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 10:07 AM

i have a picture of all these except the moonbow. I love the moon!!

[Momma_Halo]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 12:07 PM

I have seen almost all of them except the moonbow. Those are so cool!

[HuntersMomee]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 12:27 PM

so cool! I didnt know a moonbow even existed! that is crazy, something i would looove to see.

[Del672]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 12:56 PM

Thank you!!!  These shots are truly breathtaking!  Never saw a moonbow ever!

[mommyheymommy]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 1:12 PM

Cool!  Thanks so much!  I'll share with the kids : D

[logansmomma2007]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 1:49 PM

Very cool!

[MsFit]

Oct. 23, 2009 at 1:58 PM Very interesting post. Just recently I saw the moon a blood red/orange color. I was so fascinated by it, lol. Thanks for the info.