Millions of tiny ice crystals caused the fabulous show above St. Louis’ skies, according to NASA.<\/p>\n
MISSOURI, USA \u2014 Ahead of the brightest and closest moon sighting of 2025 on Wednesday morning, the moon gave St. Louis residents a different kind of show Tuesday night.<\/p>\n
Multiple people throughout the St. Louis region posted pictures to the 5 On Your Side Weather Watchers<\/a> page showing a bright ring around the moon ahead of Wednesday morning’s supermoon<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n “222,383 miles away, and still an amazing sight to see,” Weather Watcher Jim Trettenero from Staunton, Illinois, said.<\/p>\n “Check out this moon halo right now from Lake St. Louis! If you can go look at it yourself!” said Weather Watcher Sophia Scott from St. Charles County.<\/p>\n The visual effect is known as a lunar halo or a 22-degree halo, and it’s caused by light from the moon hitting millions of tiny ice crystals when high-altitude, wispy clouds cover much of the sky, according to NASA. The light then refracts, or changes direction, and causes the bright, white ring.<\/p>\n “Each ice crystal acts like a miniature lens,” NASA said on its website<\/a>. “Because most of the crystals have a similar elongated hexagonal shape, light entering one crystal face and exiting through the opposing face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the Moon Halo.”<\/p>\n