In the late winter and early spring, it’s common for thermal inversion layers to form in the Arctic atmosphere. Cold air becomes trapped under a layer of warmer air, and the difference in density between the two can refract light in very strange ways, leading to the distorted full moon seen here. In reality, most of the moon was still under the horizon when this was taken. Known as the Novaya Zemlya effect, after an island in the Russian Arctic, it can create some truly psychedelic scenes, including mirroring entire mountain ranges in the sky.