INDIANAPOLIS — Friday night and Saturday morning, people from around central Indiana began sending photos to 13News of a halo around the moon.
The "moon halo" or "moon dog" is fairly common — especially as the weather gets colder.
The ring is actually an optical illusion. It is caused when the moon light refracts off ice crystals in a thin veil of cirrus clouds. Those crystals create a giant lens 20,000 feet above us. They're positioned perfectly, with respect to our eyes, for the halo to appear. They are easier to see when the moon is full or almost full.
The same thing can happen with the sun as well.
Because the halo relies on ice crystals, you'll most often see the occurrence in the winter.
There's also a lot of folklore when this happens, as the saying claims a ring around the moon means rain soon.
Moon halo spotted Friday night
And if you noticed a bright dot near the moon, that might have actually been Jupiter.