A 22° lunar halo over Dunstanburgh Castle on Northumberland coast in the UK

A 22° lunar halo over Dunstanburgh Castle on Northumberland coast in the UK

Northern Nights Photography / Alamy Stock Photo

Image ID: HH1NE9

This photograph shows a 22° moon halo over the Lilburn Tower at Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland UK. A 22° halo is a halo, one type of optical phenomenon, forming a circle with a radius of approximately 22° around the Sun or Moon (in which case it is also called a moon ring or winter halo). It forms as the sun- or moonlight is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. The halo is large; the radius is roughly the size of an outstretched hand at arm's length !

Location: Lilburn Tower, Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland, UK