It's a cold October night. I was looking at the half moon and the halo around it. Then I noticed something really strange -- There was a bluish mirror image of the moon inside the halo at the 8 o'clock position. I thought it might be a problem with my eyes, so I blinked and squinted to see if it went away. Nope, still there! I moved into the light and kept watching the moon. As I went into the light, the illusion dissipated and as I moved back into the darkness, it reappeared. Maybe it was being overpowered by the light? When I looked more closely, I noticed two fainter mirror images at the 10 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions. All I can guess is that tangential moonlight was being deflected by high altitude ice crystals to create the optical illusion. I've never seen or heard of this before. Am I seeing things or is this a visual phenomena much like rainbows and mirages?

Sounds like the graviton wake of a UFO. Gravitational lensing effect...


But more seriously, it's probably a Sun Dog / Moon Dog

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Original post by Nypyren Sounds like the graviton wake of a UFO. Gravitational lensing effect... But more seriously, it's probably a Sun Dog / Moon Dog

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A moon dog or moondog (scientific name paraselene, plural paraselenae, i.e. "beside the moon") is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.

Can we just for today callit a freaking mirracle and tell the guy he is great for his experience.

This whole science stuff can become very anoying sometimes.

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Original post by owl Can we just for today callit a freaking mirracle and tell the guy he is great for his experience. This whole science stuff can become very anoying sometimes.

no. the science stuff is what makes it awesome. nature always is simple, and always is awesome.

Here's a poorly drawn image of what I saw:


I looked up the moon dog but it wasn't similar to what I saw. It looked like someone had taken the half moon and translated a copy of it to the side. The translated copy had a strong bluish tint and was clear enough that I could see the craters of the moon in the translated mirror image. It had to be a reflection of some sort. The reflection was entirely inside the moon halo, so maybe it was some sort of moon light diffraction off of high altitude ice crystals?

After a bit of searching, this is the only photograph that looks similar:

Based on my analysis of the above images, my conclusion is that you're clearly drunk. The alternative is you're riding a giant, mechanical, vibrating horse.

Or - and this is very likely - you were mooned by a dog.

Was this outdoors (i.e. not through a window)? Do you wear glasses? Did anyone else see it?

Honestly I think it was your window.

Brain cancer.

But seriously, do you see weird duplication of street lights, or visual blurring/starring of lights at night? You may want to see an optometrist.