Telescopic Moon Dog

November 28, 2005

Moondog-2005-09-19

Provided by: Pete Lawrence
Summary authors & editors: Pete Lawrence

The above photo shows a close-up of a paraselenae or Moon dog. It was taken from Selsey, West Sussex, United Kingdom on September 19, 2005. Like their daytime counterparts; Sun dogs, Moon dogs are caused by light being bent as it passes through horizontal plate ice crystals. Due to the reduced light from a full Moon, the colours in a Moon dog are rather subtle. However, with the aid of a short focal length telescope (i.e. providing a wide field of view) it's possible, with an extended exposure, to reveal the hidden beauty of this phenomenon.

Related Links: