Re: [OFF TOPIC] Anyone astronomical out there?

>To anyone out there with any astronomy/meteorology expertise:	
>I have a sky-watching question for you- last night the sky over Oxford,
UK,
>was very lightly cloudy/overcast, whith brighter stars visible.  The
moon,
>however, seemed completely clear, as was the sky in a perfect circle
round
>it, perhaps 15-20 moon-diameters across.  The effect was fascinating
and
>beautiful, but what did it?  Obviously, the "clear patch" was also
cloudy,
>but the moonlight was getting through it more directly.  Tyndall
effect?
>Ice crystals refracting the light?  Some sort of "moonbow"?  Will it be
back?

Those'd be ice crystals suspended high in the air, refracting the light,
giving a halo around the moon. You can sometimes see this around the
sun,
too, but it's rarer (because the sun is so bright).

Mk
------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
   o/		      ..     .
  /@		       .  .	      If you insist on reaching for a
  <|\			  .  )	      star, be prepared to take a long,
   |		     /\ 	      hard fall.
   |		    //
   /		 o //*		      Indy - climber, astronomer,
adventurer
  /		<%- /|\ 	      supreme. Have rope, will travel.
 /		/\ / | \