Last night I was leaving the house and happened to glance up at the full moon, immediately I had to do a double/triple take as I couldnt believe my eyes. There, about 20 times larger than the moon, was a giant ring. It was amazing. I ran back inside and did a quick Google search to find that this phenomenon is known as a "winter halo." I grabbed my camera and went back out to see if I could get some pictures. Meanwhile, I made a Facebook status about it and soon after my news feed started to blow up with people who were also witnessing this. Basically, the winter halo occurs when the clouds get ice crystals while the moon is at a perfect 22 degree angle to the earth. So it needs to be really cold for a long period of time (which it has been for a couple straight weeks here in South Dakota). One old folk lore states that if you see a winter halo, the amount of stars inside the halo means that is how many days it is until a storm. I counted three. So has anyone seen this happen before? One thing my research told me was that it may be visible in one area, but 10 miles away it may not be seen. The pictures I got really dont do it justice. The halo was very bright and very defined, I wish you could see that through the pictures. It was one of those "God does exist" moments, for sure. I snapped these pictures at about 10 PM and went back outside at about 1 AM and it was gone. I could have sat out there all night and looked at it, if it wasnt 0 degrees though.
