What are Sun and Moon halos?
- Published
If you had your eyes to the sky recently, you may have seen or even photographed halos or circles of light around the Sun.
Wonderful image of sun halo encircling the cloud that hides the Sun. Photo by Shantelle.
Sun halo looks quite subtle against the brightness of the Sun in this picture. Photo by Jo.
This happens when we have a thin layer of cirrus cloud moving across the sky. Cirrus is very high cloud made up of ice crystals.
Eye and its pupil. Photo by carlas garden.
Sometimes the cirrus is so thin we are not aware of any cloud in the sky. However as it passes in front of the sun, refraction of the light by the ice crystals causes the halo to form.
Thank you Jimbo56 for sharing your picture of a Moon halo
We can also sometimes see the same effect when it's a clear night with a full Moon and the thin layer of cirrus moves across the moonlit sky.
Andy3784 captured this stunning image of a full Moon halo.