Halo © Mikhail Kapychka

Photographer name: Mikhail Kapychka

From: Mogilev, Belarus

Age: 31

Photo title: Halo

Photo location: Mogilev, Belarus

Date photo taken: 26.02.2015

Story behind the photo: Lunar halo over the night forest lake, Mogilev,Belarus. I suddenly saw an unusual lunar halo in the night sky and hurried into the forest to take a picture of it. It was an amazing sight when in the night sky, the halo was like the eye of God. I've never seen this form of halo before. It was freezing weather and I couldn't stay in the forest for a long time, but I really wanted to take a picture of this image.

Weather caption: A halo is a ring of light surrounding either the sun or the moon. A halo is produced because light changes direction as it travels through a different medium. In this case, the light is first travelling through the air, but changes direction as it hits the millions of ice crystals that are suspended inside cirrus clouds high up in the atmosphere. This change in direction of light is known as refraction and is what causes a halo to appear. The orientation and shape of the ice crystals can also result in other optical phenomena, such as the upper tangent arc, which touches the top of the halo directly above the moon or sun.

Technical details:

Camera                     Canon EOS 5D Mark II

Lens model               EF16-35mm f/2.8L USM

Shutter speed           30

Aperture                    f/4.5

Focal length              16 mm

ISO                            800