﻿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 [2]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: [3]Valter Binotto Explanation: Why does a cloudy moon sometimes appear colorful? The [4]effect, called a lunar [5]corona, is created by the quantum mechanical [6]diffraction of light around individual, similarly-sized water droplets in an [7]intervening but mostly-transparent cloud. Since light of different colors has [8]different wavelengths, each color [9]diffracts differently. [10]Lunar coronae are one of the few [11]quantum mechanical color effects that can be [12]easily seen with the [13]unaided eye. [14]Solar coronae are also sometimes evident. The featured image was taken last month from [15]Paris, [16]France. The [17]blue beacon emanating from the [18]Eiffel Tower did not affect the [19]colorful lunar corona. Portal Universe: [20]Random APOD Generator Tomorrow's picture: nebulous realm __________________________________________________________________ [21]< | [22]Archive | [23]Submissions | [24]Index | [25]Search | [26]Calendar | [27]RSS | [28]Education | [29]About APOD | [30]Discuss | [31]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [32]Robert Nemiroff ([33]MTU) & [34]Jerry Bonnell ([35]UMCP) NASA Official: Amber Straughn [36]Specific rights apply. [37]NASA Web Privacy, [38]Accessibility, [39]Notices; A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC, [43]NASA Science Activation & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2405/EiffelCorona_Binotto_2000.jpg 3. mailto: info at valterbinotto dot it 4. https://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/corform.htm 5. https://www.atoptics.co.uk/droplets/corona.htm 6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diffraction 7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgiOjqTiwn8 8. https://science.nasa.gov/ems/01_intro 9. https://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/diffraction 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corona_(optical_phenomenon) 11. https://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=21334 12. http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/65397/quantum-mechanics-and-everyday-nature 13. https://images.freeimages.com/images/large-previews/755/dog-looking-at-the-camera-1411251.jpg 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160111.html 15. https://youtu.be/72kRM86V-dw 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France 17. https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/history-and-culture/beacon-covering-whole-paris-region 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190916.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/random_apod.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240529.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 25. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 27. https://apod.com/feed.rss 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 30. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=240530 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap240531.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 35. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 37. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 38. https://www.nasa.gov/general/accessibility/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/privacy/ 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 44. http://www.mtu.edu/