Friday the 13th, January 2006

Observing Location	PSC
Observational Period	2000 EST
Atmospheric Conditions	I was doing some research into rings around the moon and found a fairly simple but nice web page on the topic (which I lost when my low bandwidth internet connection locked up) that explains that moon rainbows are seen only during the daytime when the moon is behind the observer. They are identical to sun rainbows. So what Kin and I observed last night was actually a moon ring even though it had rainbow colors. The site explains the physics of a moon ring and indicates that they are caused by thin cirrus clouds at high altitude and are the harbinger of rain a few days down the road. The cirrus are the first indication of an approaching warm front associated with a low pressure system. Clouds involved in the system will become lower and lower as the front gets closer and eventually it ill begin to rain. They site says that the weather lore says that the number of days before the onset of rain are indicated by the number of stars that are visible inside the moon ring. I guess that might be right. When I went out to dinner I tried to count the stars inside the moon ring but the clouds were so thick that I couldn't even tell if the moon was up. As I was walking I could feel water droplets in the fog fitting my face. I think I must have been transported to London. And before midnight it had started to rain. Below is today's synoptic chart. There are plenty of low pressure systems and warm fronts around us and moving in this direction. NOAA graphic Transparency Opaque Seeing
Instruments	Naked-eye observing
Observing Party	Charlie Ridgway