Circle 'round the Moon

As seen on Astronomy Picture of the Day large halo around the Moon or the sun occurs when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover much of the sky. Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens. Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the Sun or the Moon Halo. Here the 22-degree Moon halo is captured in a winter night of Brittany, France. To experience this all-sky scene as it was viewed by the photographer click on this link and allow few moments so the Virtual Reality video loads.