The moon conjured up a magical sight on Saturday night when it was surrounded by a halo of heavenly white light, seen across many parts of the UK and also in France. This was a lunar halo, when bright moonlight from a full moon passed through delicate veils of ice crystals floating in cirrostratus clouds high in the atmosphere. The ice crystals acted like tiny glass prisms, refracting and reflecting the moonlight before beaming out into a wide circle of luminous white light.
Haloes around the moon have long been seen in folklore as warning signs of rain, sleet or snow: “If the moon shows like a silver shield,/ You need not be afraid to reap your field/ But if she rises haloed round,/ Soon
