Sun halos are generally considered rare and are formed by hexagonal ice crystals refracting light in the sky — 22 degrees from the sun.
A 22° halo around the Sun, observed over Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, USA on February 13, 2021.
A halo is a ring or light that forms around the sun or moon as the sun or moon light refracts off ice crystals present in a thin veil of cirrus clouds. The halo is usually seen as a bright, white ring although sometimes it can have color.
When you see a halo around the sun, that is an indicator that there is moisture high in the atmosphere. If the halo is followed by high, thin, wispy cirrus clouds, then there is a storm system approaching you.
22-degree halos are fairly common in winter; people often miss them because they are not looking up! If you see thin cirrus clouds in the sky, you might see this halo.
On its science site, NASA documents (opens in new tab) a rare incidence of a quadruple lunar halo. The four halos around the moon were sighted on a winter night above Madrid, Spain, in 2012. Falling hexagonal ice crystals created a 22-degree halo, while column ice crystals created a rarer circumscribed halo.
Sun halos are generally considered rare and are formed by hexagonal ice crystals refracting light in the sky — 22 degrees from the sun.
Interpretation: good luck
However, in Buddhism, the halo is usually thought to be an omen of good luck. 'Iridescent clouds', a phenomenon where thin grey clouds reflecting sunlight can appear to be rainbow-coloured, is interpreted as good omen.
The sun halo, also known as the "22 degree halo," is an unusual optical phenomenon that gives the appearance of a rainbow encircling the sun or moon at a distance of about 22 degrees.
Sun dogs are red closest to the sun and then blue as the light gets farther away. According to folklore, seeing a sun dog is good luck. Sun dogs are fairly common, so you can see these colorful bright spots many times during the year. Copyright 2020 WMC.
Sundogs are relatively rare occurrences, and they can only be seen in certain conditions. They require a high sun angle, cold temperatures, and light cirrus clouds that contain millions of plate-shaped ice crystals.
Among the more beautiful sights in the sky is the relatively rare sun pillar: a vertical shaft of light appearing to extend straight up out of the rising or setting sun that can only been seen when there is a view of the horizon.
Halos are caused by cirrus clouds
They are made of tiny, ice crystals. Sunlight through the ice crystals causes the light to split, or be refracted. When at just the right angle, it causes us to see the halo. The same thin clouds can cause a ring, or halo, around the moon at night.
It still has about 5,000,000,000—five billion—years to go. When those five billion years are up, the Sun will become a red giant. That means the Sun will get bigger and cooler at the same time.
Did you notice a rainbow ring around the sun today? It is called a halo and these are very common when we have high cirrus clouds in the atmosphere. Most of us think of ice crystals in the atmosphere as snow flakes, but you may not have known that they are more often hexagonal columns.
The Sun is 93 million miles away, so sunlight takes 8 and 1/3 minutes to get to us. Not much changes about the Sun in so short a time, but it still means that when you look at the Sun, you see it as it was 8 minutes ago.
Sun dogs occur when the Sun or Moon shines through a thin cirrus cloud composed of hexagonal ice crystals falling with their principal axes vertical, as opposed to the halo phenomenon that occurs when the principal axes are randomly arranged in a plane perpendicular to the Sun's or Moon's rays.
A moonbow (sometimes known as a lunar rainbow) is an optical phenomenon caused when the light from the moon is refracted through water droplets in the air. The amount of light available even from the brightest full moon is far less than that produced by the sun so moonbows are incredibly faint and very rarely seen.
A sundog is similar to a rainbow, and more common than rainbows. Sometimes they look like bright rainbows or colorful spots on either side of the Sun. Other times they are brighter and actually look like two extra Suns. Sundogs are also known as “mock suns” or “parhelia,” which means “with the Sun”.
A halo is a symbol of holiness, represented by a circle or arc of light around the head of a saint or holy person. Any circle of light can be described as a halo, even in a non-religious context; sometimes you'll see a glowing halo of light around the moon, for example.
The halo is a symbol of the Uncreated Light (Greek: Ἄκτιστον Φῶς) or grace of God shining forth through the icon. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in his Celestial Hierarchies speaks of the angels and saints being illuminated by the grace of God, and in turn illumining others.
Sundogs are part of a family of atmospheric optical illusions including moon haloes and the closely related sun haloes. All of these phenomena are caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere.
Halos appear in our skies far more often than do rainbows. They can be seen on average twice a week in Europe and parts of the United States. The 22 radius circular halo and sundogs (parhelia) are the most frequent.
Seeing halos around lights can be a cause for concern, or it can be completely normal. If you notice a sudden appearance of halos or they're accompanied by pain, blurred vision or other severe symptoms, seek immediate medical care, as this can signal a serious eye condition.
A Sun halo is caused by the refraction, reflection, and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin, wispy, high altitude cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. As light passes through these hexagon-shaped ice crystals, it is bent at a 22° angle, creating a circular halo around the Sun.