¿ 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. 2021 January 19 [2]See Explanation. Moving the cursor over the image will bring up an annotated version. Clicking on the image will bring up the highest resolution version available. A Lunar Corona with Jupiter and Saturn Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Alessandra Masi 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 unaided eye. [13]Solar coronae are also sometimes evident. The [14]featured composite image was captured a few days before the [15]close [16]Great [17]Conjunction [18]between [19]Saturn [20]and [21]Jupiter [22]last [23]month. In the foreground, the [24]Italian village of [25]Pieve [26]di [27]Cadore is visible in front of the [28]Sfornioi Mountains. New: [29]APOD is now available in Taiwanese from National Central University Tomorrow's picture: magnetic spiral __________________________________________________________________ [30]< | [31]Archive | [32]Submissions | [33]Index | [34]Search | [35]Calendar | [36]RSS | [37]Education | [38]About APOD | [39]Discuss | [40]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [41]Robert Nemiroff ([42]MTU) & [43]Jerry Bonnell ([44]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [45]Specific rights apply. [46]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [47]ASD at [48]NASA / [49]GSFC & [50]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/CoronaConjunction_Masi_1280.jpg 3. https://www.facebook.com/alessandra.masi.1656/ 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://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160111.html 14. https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1709415295896623&set=a.128219130682922 15. https://youtu.be/aokGqxVdpz0 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201223.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201220.html 18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201219.html 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201215.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201212.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201208.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201020.html 23. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=APOD.Sky&set=a.3211133262324204 24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy 25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieve_di_Cadore 26. https://youtu.be/foOsiBKhavA 27. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieve_di_Cadore 28. https://youtu.be/IobRJtv2d_Q 29. https://apod-taigi.blogspot.com/ 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210118.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 34. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 39. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210119 40. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210120.html 41. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 42. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 43. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 44. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 45. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 46. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 47. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 48. https://www.nasa.gov/ 49. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 50. http://www.mtu.edu/