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Birthday · February 13, 2009

Circle 'round the Moon

February 13, 2009

The constellations may be old, but the person celebrating beneath them is gloriously new by cosmic standards.

Circle 'round the Moon

A little universe, just for you

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APOD published February 13, 2009. Credit: PixHeaven.net. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.

Behind the image

Circle 'round the Moon

Original APOD · February 13, 2009

If your sister-in-law phoned you at 1am to tell you there was a circle around the Moon, how would you react? When it happened to him early last Sunday morning, photographer Laurent Laveder, grabbed his equipment and ran outside! He was rewarded with the sight of a bright lunar halo shining in his neighborhood skies above Quimper, France. With a radius of 22 degrees, the beautiful halo is produced by the refraction of moonlight in hexagonal-shaped ice crystals formed in thin, high clouds. Laveder captured a series of digital images that he used to create this composite fisheye view as well as a remarkable 360 degree VR panorama.

Image credit: PixHeaven.net

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