The Full Moon Corona is an optical phenomenon that occasionally surrounds a bright full Moon, captivating skywatchers with its delicate beauty. 😍 1/ #Astronomy 🔭 #Science 📸 Honor Wheeler - ThreadSky

explorecosmos.bsky.social • 139 days ago

The Full Moon Corona is an optical phenomenon that occasionally surrounds a bright full Moon, captivating skywatchers with its delicate beauty. 😍 1/

#Astronomy 🔭 #Science

📸 Honor Wheeler

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cat-father.bsky.social•139 days ago

Or the observer has cataracts

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

Last night in Wilmington, UK, © Honor Wheeler captured a stunning image of this natural spectacle, featuring not only the colorful corona but also Jupiter, the bright "star" nearby.

Lunar coronas are formed by the diffraction of moonlight through water droplets in clouds. 2/

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

This interaction creates a mesmerizing pattern of light and dark regions, depending on the size and arrangement of the droplets. When the droplets are of mixed sizes, they produce a soft, straw-colored glow known as an aureole. 3/

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

However, if the droplets are uniform in size, they generate a vivid, rainbow-colored ring, a classic corona. The science behind corona formation is rooted in the physics of diffraction and interference. 4/

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

According to the Huygens-Fresnel Principle, every point on the illuminated surface of a droplet scatters outgoing spherical waves of light.

These waves overlap & interfere with one another. When their crests coincide, constructive interference occurs, creating bright regions. 5/

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

Conversely, when wave crests and troughs cancel each other out, destructive interference leads to darkness. This interplay produces a diffraction pattern of alternating bright and dark rings, which we observe as the corona.

6/

explorecosmos.bsky.social•139 days ago

Interestingly, the specific colors of a corona arise because light of different wavelengths (colors) diffracts at slightly different angles. The result is a multicolored ring, with blue closer to the Moon and red further away. 7/

lynnvee.bsky.social•139 days ago

Massachusetts 6:30 this morning

chaoborus.bsky.social•139 days ago

Saw one the other night, it was so cool!

illimij.bsky.social•139 days ago

The moon this morning in the light pink sky was breathtaking.

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