‘Moon halo’ seen in Bohol skies

A lunar halo appears in the skies of Tagbilaran City, Bohol on Friday, Oct. 7, 2022. Leo Udtohan/Inquirer Visayas

TAGBILARAN CITY — Residents here were treated to a “moon halo” phenomenon that illuminated the skies on Friday night.

Charles Jade Pesguira, 23, a resident of Barangay Booy, Tagbilaran City, wasn’t surprised to see the moon ring.

“It’s wonderful,” said Pesguira who last saw the moon ring last September when he was in Malate, Manila.

The Farmers’ Almanac said a lunar halo, just like a sun halo, is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high-altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.

“As light passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystals, it is bent at a 22 degree angle, creating a halo 22 degrees in radius (or 44 degrees in diameter),” it said.

Weather lore says a lunar halo was the precursor of impending unsettled weather, especially during the winter months, Farmers’ Almanac added. This was often proven true, as cirrus and cirrostratus clouds generally preceded rain and storm systems.

Even Inday Charity, a Tagbilaran-based occultist, clarified that in general, there was no Wiccan or other Neopagan magical correspondence related to the lunar halo.

Lunar halos are, in fact, actually fairly common, Farmers’ Almanac said.

READ: Residents of Bohol town awed by rare sight in the sky