I want to pick up this topic as it is in my field of interest and about this effect frequently happening worldwide at this point. I would also like to apologize for my irregularity with these blogs, but I promise to get back on track. I request you to bear with me and continue to encourage me while I get back to my discipline.
In the last month, most social media was buzzing with images of the Sun with a rainbow around. We first saw this in Bangalore (South India), and apparently, this appearance has been making rounds to all parts of South India. Naturally, this built some curiosity into me, and I decided to research and write an article around this.
A rainbow of a circle of dim light around the Sun or moon; scientists gave a term to these Halos. They’re called 22-degree halos. They have come to bear this name as the circle’s radius around the Sun or moon is approximately 22 degrees.
There’s an old saying about the weather: A ring around the moon means rain soon. This statement holds to this saying because clouds with high amounts of cirrus come before the storm. Also, halos are a possible sign of high and thin cirrus clouds 20,000 feet in the air. The cirrus clouds are composed of millions of tiny ice crystals. The halos we see are caused by refraction and splitting of light. They are also caused by reflection or glints of light from these ice crystals.
Did you ever realize that Halos are different for each person? The crystals have to be positioned precisely to your eye for the halo to appear. This means that everyone can potentially see their own particular halo, made by their specific ice crystal pattern, even if that person is standing beside you.
Unofortunately I missed seeing Halos because I was in a different place when it appeared in Hyderabad or Kurnool. I have only seen halos in photographs, but I want to know your experience; Please comment your experience if possible.
Also, for people taking images of Halos, be cautious. Pointing a camera at the unobscured Sun can damage the lens of your camera.
Some Trivia on the duration of Halos
Eliot Herman wrote on May 5, 2018: “This shows the change that occurred over 7 minutes as a lunar halo emerged. It then persisted for about 40 minutes and disappeared with increasing clouds. Although it appears the halo is forming from an odd shape, what is illuminated is the edge of the clouds just before the halo formed as the clouds drifted in front of the moon. But it does have a nice illusion of an odd-shaped halo then becoming round.”.
Images of Halos:
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Credit: https://earthsky.org/space/what-makes-a-halo-around-the-moon/#:~:text=Bottom%20line%3A%20Halos%20around%20the,signs%20that%20storms%20are%20nearby.