What causes this perfect hole in the night sky cloud?

Hi all, not sure where to put this, hope it's ok here.....

Just been outside to see how cold it is, looked up into the night sky and saw something i've never seen before. My photo below doesn't do it justice, all i can describe it as is a massive whole, miles across, the hole being a perfect circle of black clear night sky with the entire rest of the viewable sky grey with cloud.

It's like someone cut out a perfect circle in the grey night sky.

Just to say, it's starting to freeze out there. Very cold indeed for the UK, so i'm not sure if this has anything to do with it?

It doesn't even look like those fallstreak clouds, the hole really is that perfect a circle.

The picture almost looks like when you get a halo effect around a light source, but i promise you this is a massive hole in the cloud, i'd say miles across my view of the sky. My daughter saw it too, as did my neighbour when i called him out to see.

Any ideas?



CX.

It's a bone-stock moon dog.



eta: This is a fairly common if somewhat dramatic looking weather phenomenon called a "moon ring" or, if it's got little bright spots on the ring to the left and right, a moon dog.

There is a similar phenomenon called a sun dog that looks about the same. It's caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, and is sometimes called a winter halo.

a reply to: CX

it's the finger of god doing that.

a reply to: Bedlam

Eh?

CX.

Ice crystals exposed from the LUNAR Light, would be my guess OP...

This comes to mind:

It's lens flare,

It's a moon ring caused by ice crystals in the atmosphere. I can see it from where I am.
They're fairly common in cold, hazy weather.

a reply to: CX

You see them in Alaska on a regular basis

Nothing big... You must live in a big city?

Makes me laugh when city folk move to smaller out in the woods area

Moon!? Moon?! What the hell yea a that bright thing in the sky!?!?!? Honey, honey call 911 there's a spaceship!!

Your local chemtrailer was sick today & this spot got missed.

Or it's methane.

a reply to: skunkape23

Exactly right. In northern climes we see that quite a bit. The OP did say there was frost in the air, and that is the answer.

Reminds me of the thread a bit ago that had this crazy picture:
Thread Link: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Halos form when light from the sun or moon is refracted by ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds (like cirrostratus clouds). A 22 degree halo is a ring of light 22 degrees from the sun (or moon) and is the most common type of halo observed and is formed by hexagonal ice crystals with diameters less than 20.5 micrometers.

source

I really want to see this phenomenon, I hope to see it one day!

Yep, like AK907 said, I and those around me have seen that many times up here and that's what the picture looks like to me. When I first saw one of these around the age of twelve or so I had a brief moment of terror and impending doom where I didn't know what I was looking at and I thought maybe it was the silhouette of a massive incoming rouge planet. I was freaking out, now I just enjoy them.

a reply to: GoShredAK

That cracked me up. I could see the same scenario for myself if I was in your shoes.

Must of been scary stuff!

a reply to: GoShredAK

Oops, double post...

a reply to: CX

You guys are criticizing the OP for the moon dog thing, when that's not what he's talking about at all.

The hole you're seeing (way beyond the moon dog that doesn't show in the picture) isn't actually an open "hole" in the atmosphere. If you were to travel 50 kms in any direction and looked up in the direction of the moon, you would see the same hole above you... like as if it were following you around.

What you're experiencing is the bright light coming from the moon directly at you, and your eyes are only catching the hazy ice crystals at a far off angular distance. You will not see the light bouncing off of the ice crystals directly in front you, but rather at an angle... which gives the illusion that it's a "darker" area that you're seeing compared to the surrounding area.

And yes, this effect will be in a perfect circular pattern.

I think the proper terminology is called light refraction, but there may be a more precise term used in this particular case... I just don't feel like googling it right now.




Edit to add: And I believe the more ice crystals that are in the atmosphere, the more distinct and larger this "dark hole" illusion is.

a reply to: AK907ICECOLD
I had a city kid at my place in the country come in once, appearing to be genuinely disturbed.
"Come out here and look at this!"
I walked out with him and he pointed at the sky.
"What's going on here?"
I looked up at a clear blue sky and told him all I see is the moon.
"Why is the moon out in the day?" He asked in all seriousness.

originally posted by: CX
The picture almost looks like when you get a halo effect around a light source, but i promise you this is a massive hole in the cloud, i'd say miles across my view of the sky. My daughter saw it too, as did my neighbour when i called him out to see.

It looks like a halo, because it is in fact a halo:
Halo (Optical Phenomenon)
It's the same thing as a "sun dog" and caused by the same thing; refraction of light through ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

a reply to: defcon5

I believe the OP is talking about a dark circle that extends beyond the moondog halo around the moon... this is what tipped me off that he's talking about what it looks like beyond the circumferance of the halo effect we're seeing in the picture:

but i promise you this is a massive hole in the cloud, i'd say miles across my view of the sky

So I'm assuming that means miles and miles beyond what we're seeing between the two buildings... beyond the border of light around the moon ?

Ok....firstly, thank you to the one or two people that actualy giving me some credit and not treat me like an idiot that's never stepped outside a house before.

I'm 42, not 3, i live in the New Forest down in rural England so i'm not some "city folk" that doesn't understand things in the countryside nor have i always lived in the forest so much that i'd be sat here playing duelling banjos and wondering what the moon is.

I've lived in cities, in forests all round the world, done many things in my time and have more than an ounce of common sense and intellengence. I'm not thick!

It's not lens flare! When three people go outside, look up, without a camera and see a massive hole in the cloud cover....that's not lens flare!

There was no halo round the moon either.

Best way i can describe this.....imagine the whole night sky was covered in light grey cloud. You can't see any of the black night sky due to cloud. Now imagine not just a break in the clouds where you can suddenly see the moon and stars, but a massive perfect circular hole in the cloud, miles wide. The blanket of cloud didn't look majorly high either, this is what made it so weird looking. You could physicaly see the cloud had a circular hole in it.

If that picture had been better, and more true to what i saw when i looked up, everything outside the "halo" would have been grey/white actualy clouds.

Just to add, it's morning now as i write this reply, but i went back out a couple of hours later and the clouds had broken and dispersed like a regular cloudy night.

It wasn't a hole in the atmosphere, it was most definitely in the clouds.

Can't explain it any better than that

Thanks again to those who didn't take the piss, luckily i've been here ten years, am thick skinned and know what this place can be like at times, but i can see why so many people up and leave after thier first post.

CX.