                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                 2024 May 30
   The famous Eiffel Tower in Paris, France is pictured on the left lit up
   in gold at night. A blue laser shines out from the top. Clouds dot the
     background sky. The Moon is also visible through the clouds, but is
    circled by colorful rings: a lunar corona. Please see the explanation
                       for more detailed information.

                          A Lunar Corona over Paris
                  Image Credit & Copyright: Valter Binotto

   Explanation: Why does a cloudy moon sometimes appear colorful? The
   effect, called a lunar corona, is created by the quantum mechanical
   diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets
   in an intervening but mostly-transparent cloud. Since light of
   different colors has different wavelengths, each color diffracts
   differently. Lunar coronae are one of the few quantum mechanical color
   effects that can be easily seen with the unaided eye. Solar coronae are
   also sometimes evident. The featured image was taken last month from
   Paris, France. The blue beacon emanating from the Eiffel Tower did not
   affect the colorful lunar corona.

                   Portal Universe: Random APOD Generator
                     Tomorrow's picture: nebulous realm
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

