Blue glow around moon?

Sorry if this is in the wrong forum.

I live in the capital of Canada, and today I have noticed things to be much clearer (sight-wise). This may be because I've been outside much more today than usual, but whatever. Cold air also seems to make things look clearer, too.

Anyways, I was looking at the moon, and noticed that it was A: full, B: clear, and C: bright. I stared at it for about 10 seconds, and started to notice a small blue glow that would surround the moon. It even moved! My cameras don't seem to be able to get a clear (or large enough) picture of the moon, so that's out of the question. The colour is darker than normal blue sky, but brighter than night sky.

What I want to know is if this is a trick of the eye or it has to do with something else.

I can look directly at it from my roof window now, and when I keep looking it for a few seconds a blue rim quickly appears. Googled it but found no match to what might cause this.

Maybe its ice in the atmosphere and the moon's light is making the halo of ice stand out?

reply to post by flyindevil


No pics? No video? Bummer!

I remember reading somewhere that even though it has been stated that the moon definitely has no atmosphere, from time to time, wisps of one can be seen. The conjecture surrounding this phenomenon are as varied as anything else.
Some of which are,
*water vapor being melted from the caps and re crystallizing into ice and falling back to the surface.
*sub surface discharge of gasses?
*Stray gasses caught by the gravity of the planetesimal.
*lost gasses from earth being reclaimed by the moon.

dont wanna ruin things here, but could it not be that because you have stared at it for so long the brightness of the moon causes a somewhat glare shine from it, its the same as them optical illusions where you look at something then tilt your head back and close your eyes.

reply to post by Ibex08



The moon isn't that bright.

=)

reply to post by Revolution-2012

It's pretty bright, considering that it is surrounded by near blackness.

I just went out again, and it seems different now. Still see the blue, but in a different way. Looks more like an outline than a moving mass. Might be because I'm tired, though.


[edit on 9-1-2009 by flyindevil]

I'm also in Ontario and noticed the same thing. I didn't stare at it because its minus 22 celsius, but I definitely saw a blue haze.

Should be the same tomorrow its 100% full.

Well the blue glow you are seeing is caused by staring at an object for too long. If you look at an object that is orange on a dark blue back ground. Then stare at it for 15 seconds you will think that it is moving. Or better yet, if you stare at a orange dot on a white back ground for 30 seconds. then remove the dot and look at the white back ground, you'll see a green dot. It is the rods and cones in your eyes coming back to that area to fix the area where that image was just burned into. It is all an optical illusion.

reply to post by flyindevil


Now you can tell people that you saw a blue moon.....then ask them what again was going to happen when their was a blue moon??

reply to post by bigvig316

So it's like an overlap of the moon on the sky, but in my eyes?
By the way, the moon is also pretty white. Not sure if that is really relevant.


[edit on 9-1-2009 by flyindevil]

reply to post by LunarLooney1

Fine... they're not very good, though. The moon is so bright that it made the camera have that purple line effect, but it didn't show up on the photos. Weird. There's also a real halo now (probably caused by ice in the sky). The moon is almost directly over my house. There are also no clouds in the sky.

reply to post by flyindevil


Hello! I have always been interested in Moon and conspiricy stuffs about the moon. Good Post OP. I can say that I have looked through Binoculars when I can see the Moon really well on a clear night and Yes, I have seen what appears to be a blue halo? I have no Idea what it could be erm...maybe This dude from NASA does though who if you listen close to in the video link I provides says "Man if you zoom in on the Moon you can totally see the..." and then he is cut off. Hmmmmmm indeed. Oh and whats interesting about the Video also is the Moon appears to have a Blue Halo enjoys!

www.liveleak.com...

Actually...just looking back now...DAMN!!! it looks like Atmosphere!! Interesting Indeed!!!

The reason you are seeing this blue glow is because the moon is 31,000 miles closer to the earth than normal. Because it's orbit around us is not a perfect circle but rather an oval, it gets closer at some points during its revolution period about the earth.

You can read about it on this post:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit: It's supposed to seem 14% bigger and 30% brighter.

[edit on 10-1-2009 by Corvinus]

Originally posted by Corvinus
The reason you are seeing this blue glow is because the moon is 31,000 miles closer to the earth than normal. Because it's orbit around us is not a perfect circle but rather an oval, it gets closer at some points during its revolution period about the earth.

You can read about it on this post:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

edit: It's supposed to seem 14% bigger and 30% brighter.

[edit on 10-1-2009 by Corvinus]

Neither the ATS article you linked or either of the News articles mentioned anything about the Moon being seen to have a blue Halo/Glow. I wonder what are your credentials for saying this? Please correct me if I'm wrong but are you just making an assumption?

The blue halo could have something to do with the moon being seen through ice cold atmosphere. Just like the sky appears to be blue on a sunny day, this may have something to do with it. Then the rest could be the fact of staring at the moon and "seeing things" a bit due to reaction from your eyes.
Or else,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,could there be Aurora Borialis on the moon? Electro magnetic phenominon. Signs in sun, moon and stars, dont have to be nature defying.

reply to post by Maiku2052


True it doesn't say anything about there being a blue halo/glow around the moon. And NO I'm not making an assumption, i figured that you would use common sense to link that the moon being 31K miles closer than normal would cause this. Say for example, my head is the moon and a lamp is the sun, if i stand in front of that lamp but far away, you would see no halo of light around my head. But if i i moved closer to that lamp to where the light is more concentrated on my head because I'm not so far away anymore, this would cause a glow of light around my head. BUT in this situation it's with the Moon and Sun not my head and a lamp. Understand?

Blue Halo around the moon is normal, I assure you.

Links for info:

www.gsfc.nasa.gov...
en.wikipedia.org...(optical_phenomenon)
www.astropix.com... (lots of photos)
www.obliquity.com...