A halo of light around the moon caught the eye of many Buckinghamshire residents last night - prompting some to wonder how the lunar phenomenon came about.
Buckinghamshire residents had their eyes - and camera lenses - on the skies last night (November 25) after spotting a ring of light around the waxing gibbous moon above the county.
Members of the Bucks Free Press Camera Club shared snaps of the phenomenon, with Anne Rixton receiving praise from her fellow members for her shots of the moon and Jupiter, which one person described as "beautiful".
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Terry Hastings and Gary Britton also shared photos they had managed to take of the lunar event.
While the moon appeared to be surrounded by a faint halo, the ring of light was actually made up of a thin layer of cirrus cloud formed from ice crystals.
As the crystals moved across the sky last night, they caused the moonlight to refract, resulting in the formation of a lunar halo.
According to the Met Office, the halo can be an indication of approaching rainfall. The agency's website reads: "In the past, haloes and other atmospheric phenomena were used as an empirical form of weather forecasting before the development of meteorology.
"There is some degree of truth in this. The high cirrus cloud which contains the ice crystals required for haloes to form often signifies an approaching frontal system; however, in many cases, the front will be inactive or simply change course from the area - producing no rain."
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