Super-lunar corona

The day before was the night of the 'Supermoon' - a phenomenon, known as a perigee full moon, where the moon passes just 221,802 miles from Earth, about 15,300 miles closer than average, making it appear 14% larger and 30 per cent brighter in the night sky. Those of us in Longstanton, however, would have completely missed this stunning sight as the skies were completely blanketed in thick cloud. Probably for the best, as the perigee full moon has been blamed in folklore for disasters, madness and even people turning into werewolves. I was certainly foaming at the mouth and growling like a wolf all night, having set up my scope and camera and seeing nothing but wall-to-wall grey clouds from dusk to dawn. However, the clouds last night turned from villain to hero when they helped produced the magnificent sight below - the lunar corona. 

The lunar corona is produced by the diffraction of bright moonlight by the water droplets of clouds - in fact, in just the same way a rainbow is formed from sunshine in the daytime. The corona, however, consists of a central bright aureole and small number of concentric colored rings around the celestial object, with reddish colors usually occupying the outer part of a corona's ring. The colours seen in the corona last night, in fact, changed dramatically as the cloud formations being blown over the moonlight changed, as you can see from the animation below, consisting of a series half minute time lapse pictures I took of yesterday's lunar corona.

All photographs on this page  © Sabri Zain 2012.