paraselene
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun A bright spot on a lunar halo, produced by refraction through a preponderating number of ice-crystals floating perpendicularly or vertically; a mock moon.
Examples
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This morning it was calm and clear save for a light misty veil of ice crystals through which the moon shone with scarce clouded brilliancy, surrounded with bright cruciform halo and white paraselene.
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A perfect paraselene is, I am convinced, an extremely rare thing, much rarer than a perfect parhelion (‘moon-cats’ my companion thought the phenomenon should be called, saving the canine simile for the sun), for in seven years' travel I have never seen another, and the references to it in literature are few.
Ten Thousand Miles with a Dog Sled A Narrative of Winter Travel in Interior Alaska
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Of such are the records of auroral displays, parhelions, paraselene, lunar halos, fog bows, irridescent clouds, refracted images of mountains and mirage generally.
The Worst Journey in the World Antarctic 1910-1913, by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Note
This word comes from the Greek ‘para,’ beside, near, plus ‘selene,’ moon.
