Lunar Corona Over Munich, Germany

January 18, 2007

Aureole-06-11-2006 copy

Provided and copyright by: Martin Dietzel
Summary authors & editors: Martin Dietzel

In Germany, colorful rings surrounding the Moon are referred to as "aureoles." The coronal rings visible on the night of November 6, 2006 (near Munich, Germany) were extraordinarily intense. Though this photo has been slightly enhanced, I tried to image the rings as closely as possible to what one could see with the naked eye. Coronas or aureoles are diffraction phenomenon -- deflection of moonlight (or sunlight) about tiny water droplets results in interference rings. The bright light of the nearly full Hunters Moon heightened the intensity of these phenomenal rings.

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