March 21, 2003
Somewhere between the Big Bang and this birthday, the universe learned how to make kindness, curiosity, humor, memory, and hope.
Stars and Planets in the Halo of the Moon
Birthday · March 21, 2003
A little universe, just for you
Your date.
Ready to give.
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APOD published March 21, 2003. Credit: Lauri Kangas. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Photographed on March 13th from Caledon, Ontario, Canada, a bright Moon was surrounded by this lovely halo. Planet Jupiter and stars Procyon, Castor, and Pollux also appear within the circle of lunar light. Castor and Pollux, twins in Greek Mythology, are appropriately bright stars of the constellation Gemini while Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor. The circular halo is produced by six-sided ice crystals in thin high-altitude clouds, which refract the moonlight and give the halo a characteristic radius of 22 degrees. For persistent skygazers such apparitions are relatively easy to see when the Moon and Sun illuminate planet Earth's skies.
Image credit: Lauri Kangas