A rainbow-coloured sun halo was sighted in Dehradun on Sunday afternoon, prompting residents to record the unusual visual spectacle on their mobile phones and upload it on social media where it soon became viral.
A rare optic phenomenon, the sun halo or '22 degree halo' appears like a rainbow encircling the sun or moon at a radius of approximately 22 degrees.
It occurs due to sunlight refracting in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, Director Meteorological Centre Bikram Singh said.
Photos of the striking rainbow-coloured halo soon took over social media as locals marvelled at the rare sight.
Sun halo#dehradunpic.twitter.com/WHGyo4wrfU— Comrade Herumb (@herumbpushkar) July 24, 2022
God sun halo in Dehradun #Dehradun#sunhalo#sun#whether#Scientist#astrophysics#NASAWebb#sky#NASA@aanchii_sharma@NASAWebb@ANKUBAKSHI@iamkadaladi@TheEarthAndCli1 @ pic.twitter.com/W8VEKJ3g8c — Mohita Sharma (@MohitaSharma11) July 24, 2022
Unique Appearance of Sun at 1230 at Jolly Grant Dehradun Uttarakhand India. pic.twitter.com/f6m6dAHqw2— Mohammed Sadiq Choudhary (@mschoudhary50) July 24, 2022
Sun halos are generally considered rare and are formed by hexagonal ice crystals refracting light in the sky — 22 degrees from the sun. This is also commonly called a 22 degree halo. Today #SunHalo in #Dehradunpic.twitter.com/5W5EktXS55 — Jyotsana Pradhan Khatri (@jyotsana_khatri) July 24, 2022What is a sun halo?
A sun halo is also called a 22 degree halo because the radius of the circle around the sun is approximately 22 degrees.
According to USA’s National Weather Service, this ring forms when “light refracts off ice crystals present in a thin veil of cirrus clouds.”
Although this phenomenon is rare, it is not unheard of. Last year, residents of Bengaluru in Karnataka also witnessed a sun halo. Pics of the halo had gone viral on social media at the time.
Banglore city witnessed today a rainbow ring around Sun. This phenomenon is called ‘22 degree Sun Halo’. Such Sun or Moon halos are not so common however they have been witnessed earlier in the country in the past. #banglore#sunhalopic.twitter.com/JeLfHp7AE3(With inputs from PTI)— Ramesh Pandey (@rameshpandeyifs) May 24, 2021
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