the moon

[XairstrikeXD]

hey at my house in northern texas it is a waning gibbous moon and it looks like theres a white ring of light about two index fingers radius away from the moon [index fingers meaning when i look from the ground i can but two index fingers inbetween the moon and the ring] and it seems darker inside the ring until you see the moon i was wondering what this was? a shadow or something else ill try to get a picture on here.http://www.facebook.com/album.php?a...aved#/photo.php?pid=217122&id=100000129083474

 

[Saiph]

Yep, it's got a name. The one I'm familiar with is "moon dog" or "moon halo". It's due to really high altitude ice crystal catching and bending the light.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

 

[MeteorWayne]

Actually, the moon dog (like sun dog) halo would be the 22 degree ring, about two fist wdths away from the moon. It is a related one though. The site I use to look for descriptions is

http://www.atoptics.co.uk/

 

[SpaceTas]

The picture looks more like the 22 deg halo formed by ice crystals in high clouds; rather than the smaller halo you get from low water droplet clouds/fog.

Maybe the index fingers were close to the eye rather than at arms length?

 

[Archer17]

spaceweather.com had an item/pic about this the other day - click here & check 3rd item down.