Nightly Observations 2.2

In the past several weeks over Winter Break and this week, the celestial sphere has been surprisingly clear and good for observation. The cold weather and lack of rain or lots of cloud cover has created a situation that is quite ideal for astronomical observation. Even on nights when there are clouds and the light pollution is heavy though, there are two very distinctive celestial objects that I can see every night. First and most recognizable is the constellation Orion, whose belt is clearly visible away to the Southeast every night. There is also another very bright star in the Southeast, a bit further up and more South than Orion. I can not precisely identify what star this might be unfortunately, but it is a bright one. Also of note; over the Winter Break on New Year's Eve, I had the luck and privilege to glimpse a phenomenon that I have never before seen in my life. It appeared to be a very large halo ring around the full Moon that night. I later discovered from my all-knowing Astronomy teacher, that this was caused by atmospheric and light interactions with ice crystals in the sky that night. This is by far the coolest thing that I have ever seen in the sky, in my life I would have to say.