Anyone else saw this strange phenomenom in the sky?

I forget the exact date, but it was November of 2005. I was outside smoking with a neighbor and I just happened to look up. I noticed it was a full moon and the sky was absolutely clear. The sky was as beautiful and clear as I've ever seen.

I then noticed that there were clouds they just were a long way from the moon. Actually there was a perfect circle of clouds. When I say perfect, I mean perfect! It looked as though someone had blew a smoke ring and in the dead center was a full moon.

The clouds weren't broken or in bunches, they were all connected like....one big ring of a moon.

I didn't know what to think of it. I pointed it out to my neighbor and my wife and they didn't know what to think of it either. It was so strange I called the news station and told them to look at the sky too. Nothing came of it though.

Was just wondering if there were any legends or any logical explanation for it. The closest I could think was that the cloud had been very cloudy and there was a up rush of circular air that made the clouds move into one formation. It looked as though something HUGE left the earth and parted the clouds.

Any thoughts?

Was it similar to this? A Moon Halo

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c2d8e2c40e54.jpg[/atsimg]

Halo (optical phenomenon)
From Wikipedia



A halo (ἅλως; also known as a nimbus, icebow or Gloriole) is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby air.

There are many types of ice halos. They are produced by the ice crystals in cirrus clouds high (5–10 km, or 3–6 miles) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting sunlight between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions.

Atmospheric phenomena such as halos were used as part of weather lore as an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed.

Other common optical phenomena involving water droplets rather than ice crystals include the glory and the rainbow.

Are you referring to a fallstreak hole?

reply to post by crazydaisy


No it wasn't this. These were actual clouds, can't remember the names of the crowds.

reply to post by crazydaisy


Naw it wasn't a halo.

reply to post by Three_moons


OK, I looked up fallstreak hole and this is most similar to what I saw. Only thing this had to be the BIGGEST fallstreak hole ever. And the sky inside of the clouds did not have a SINGLE cloud there. Nothing but a perfectly full moon.

It was as if it went around the entire earth with a hole in the middle. The consistency of the clouds was solid too. No thin spots or wisps.

If you're talking about clouds, it's very possible the formation of clouds was only visible from your location. Calling up a tv studio several miles away may have caused someone to go outside and see a cloud formation that looks a lot different from your location. Unfortunately the only way to clearly communicate something like this would have been with pictures. I say unfortunately because I'm assuming you didn't get any.

I've seen this too, in July of 2005. It was similar to the fallstreak hole or holepunch clouds, but the circle was absolutely perfect, with crisp edges. It looked some somebody photoshopped the sky. The hole had grabbed a contrail and wrapped it around a third of the circle. The center was completely devoid of clouds.

When I first saw it, the sun was visible in the hole, but off center. When I returned home an hour later, the sun was perfect centered in the middle of the hole.

I've seen lots of pictures of similar holes on the internet, but none that were perfect circles like I saw. And it held that perfect circle shape for over an hour, which was as long as I observed it. I would have thought the wind would deform the shape, but it retained it's perfect circle shape with crisp edges the entire time.

I really regret the decision not to run and get my camera...

[edit on 18-7-2010 by The Cusp]

reply to post by The Cusp


Bingo! I can tell you've seen it too by how perfect everything was. It was as if someone had drawn it. I mean it was a PERFECT circle. So yours was during the day. Also like you say, the moon was dead center and stayed that way for at least an hour.

The size of the sky would lead me to believe that the picture of the sky I had would have been the picture for at least all of Florida and maybe more. The sky was just that huge.

In this corner of the world the sky is almost always covered with clouds so it's impossible to see the night sky with its stars. True pity. I do however get "hypnotized" everytime I see it, which is not often, maybe a few times a year.

Originally posted by DZAG Wright
Also like you say, the moon was dead center and stayed that way for at least an hour.

Actually, the sun didn't start off centered. In was within the circle, but off center at first by quite a bit.