Ever seen a ghostly rainbow halo around the Sun?
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. The prism effect of light passing through these six-sided ice crystals also separates the light into its various color frequencies, making the halo look like a very pale rainbow, with red on the inside and blue on the outside.
Folklore tells us Sun halos can predict the weather:
A ring around the Sun or Moon
means rain or snow is coming soon.
Sundog?
Occasionally, brighter areas will form along these halos, creating a mock Sun, or “sundog.” Sundogs are known as parhelia (or the singular parhelion) to astronomers, from the Greek words meaning “beside the Sun.”
Have you ever seen a sun halo, mock sun, or other interesting sights? Share in the comments below!
If you notice a hole in the upper left-hand corner of your Farmers' Almanac, don't return it to the store! That hole isn't a defect; it's a part of history. Starting with the first edition of the Farmers' Almanac in 1818, readers used to nail holes into the corners to hang it up in their homes, barns, and outhouses (to provide both reading material and toilet paper). In 1919, the Almanac's publishers began pre-drilling holes in the corners to make it even easier for readers to keep all of that invaluable information (and paper) handy.
32 comments
These “sun halos” or “sun dogs” are the effect of metals being sprayed in the upper atmosphere. I photograph the sky as a hobby & ive lived in the same place my whole life, so when i tell you these have never been seen here until this year, i actually do know. I have hours upon hours of video & photographic evidence of planes spraying & a timelapse that shows how bad & polluted our sky is since last year. There’s a constant brownish gray haze covering everything now. It looks like smoke& it’s all the way around the horizon. I live about 10 miles north of the gulf of Mexico in a very rural area. We don’t have the population or the kind of industry that would cause a polluted sky. Since last year, we’ve had constant coast guard presence. Helicopters in the sky 24/7 (literally) for a year.i counted 18 times in less than an hour my house was flown over. And this is around the clock. Not to mention the drones that are constant too. We’ve had strange weather patterns, crazy lightning storms, birds flying the wrong direction & carrion birds circling nothing. This is just the tip of the iceberg, i could go on forever. Idk what is going on, but it’s not good.
Hi Karen! We’re sending our prayers to you folks downunder. Glad you’re safe!
Hi I live in timboon victoria Australia, have got a sun halo today
Rainbow sun halo persists 1-5-20. Concluded specially engineered aerosols dispersed into atmosphere are responsible. Samples of aerosol filament fallout have the same spectra as sun halo. Sun dogs, which were previously quite rare are now common, ostensibly due to aerosol dispersal, the alleged purpose of which…admitted to by authorities only when backed into a corner…is to retard global warming. If you say so, Mister Man! Never mind increasingly bitter winters in the higher latitudes, consistent with well documented grand solar minimums, the most recent of which commenced in 2012 (See “Prophecy of the Eagle and the Condor”). Mum’s the word on that one. Credible researchers claim these aerosols interact with electromagnetic radiation generated by very sophisticated ionospheric heater arrays (HAARP) having the capability of a wide range of fantastic phenomena. Jules Vern on hallucinogens could not make this stuff up. If you find domestic politics bizarre, it pales by comparison to the disarray among climatologists. Reminds me of a fireworks item dubbed, “Sky Monkies Violate the Heavens”. It’s not nice to monkey with Mother Nature.
I just took a photo of a sun halo by blocking just the sun enough to show the colors. January 5, 2020. Georgetown, Texas. Awesome!
Mayan Calendar marking 2012 as ‘end of the world’ scenario was an intelligence operation deliberately contrived to obfuscate the end of one age and the commencement of another. Just as the cosmic clock struck 2012, the sun responded by receding into a quiescent state known as a grand solar minimum presaging another ice age. The collective consciousness of humanity has not yet risen to the occasion due to deception by those who in whom we have mistakenly placed our trust. We are living in the most interesting of all times. Strap on your seat belts…we are in for one hell of a cosmic merry-go-round. Fear not…consciousness is rising. All is consciousness…unquantifiable, all-pervasive infinitude.
Sunset in Wimberley, Texas Jan. 4, 2020….concentric rainbow halo around sun. Sun gazing with optical oscillator reveals sun streaming forth extra-dimensional archetypical geometrical codex. The sun is a cold ferrite planet with continents surrounded by liquid hydrogen oceans. Sun’s photosphere is a relatively thin (3000 miles thick) sheath of plasma akin to our planet’s ionosphere, only far more energetic. Stars are both the hottest and coldest objects in the universe. They are by definition giant superconductors manifesting all the characteristics thereof. 1561 Celestial event over Nuremberg, Germany possibly a glitch in the holographic projection we call reality. Description of manifestations during that event are very similar to those observed through optical solar oscillator, especially concerning the ferrite appearance of the sun’s dark planetary surface. Both Albert Einstein and Max Planck confirmed the a-ethereal nature of reality. Einstein said, reality is an illusion, although a very persistent one. Just a few words with mind-boggling implications missed by many. Culmination of particle research (CERN/LHC) disingenuously claimed discovery of Boson, aka, “God Particle”. What they discovered but did not report was that matter is condensed energy that is being projected into existence from an unquantifiable background source. Many of the formerly aesthetic scientist got religion all of a sudden but were sworn to silence. CERN/LHC is not a research facility. It is an interface capable of manipulating the hologram we call reality. Welcome to…the MATRIX!
Viewing a Rainbow Halo now Sat Jan 4rth 2020 2:55 here in Central Tx
Gruene, Texas
Along with the Moon at 3/4,
pretty interesting!
Just saw one in Youngstown OH Dec 28th 3:45pm
I can see it now now
I’m seeing a sun halo right now in Newport Harbor , Newport Beach ca 2:24 p.m Dec 5th 2019
Saw one at around eleven a.m. lasted for a long time
My brother saw one today in NY, first time ever. I’ve seen them around the moon but never around the Sun.
I grew up back in Connecticut and saw them all of the time back there. I lived in both Colorado and Arizona and see them several times a year. I will ask anyone if they know what they are and I have never met anyone who knew what they are . I have always gotten the same response- No they have no idea what they are. I am always looking up in the sky to find my next one. There was one in the sky late this afternoon today!
Just saw a sun dog in Lakeland FL tonight! 11/22/19
There is a ring around the sun in Coushatta,La it is really neat looking !!
11-14-2019
Large Halo around the Sun
Lasted for at least 1 hour
Boise Idaho USA
We are experiencing sun dogs at this time. Have pics. Very awesome site
Friday/November-15,2019
**********************************
It’s exactly (10:59-AM) looked up at the Sky,
When I suddenly noticed……..
there’s a Big Halo Around the Sun this Morning!
PRETTY AWESOME!
I saw a solar halo just a month back. It was GORGEOUS! I hope i get to see it again sometime.
Wow, Sherry, thanks for sharing!
There was a sun hall on 6/12/2019 about 25 miles south of Buffalo NY It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a long time. I didn’t even know what it was I looked it up on Google.
Saw my first ever Sun halo today in Modesto, California.. It was so pretty!! There was a beautiful cloud rainbow too..
Saw one on 4/16/19 In Costa Maya.
Saw a sun halo today in Nassau, The Bahamas. It was really facinating and there was also a rainbow seen around it about 30 feet from the halo itself….
The first one I ever saw and was told what they were, was on a chilly Yacht Sail around Lake Tahoe in May… We see them occasionally here in Arizona.
I saw one of these driving home from work the other night and could not figure out what I was seeing…now I know! It was so awesome!
What does it mean if only a partial on north or south
That’s really cool, but Jaime is right NEVER look right at the sun without some serious eye protection.
Hi Brenda,
Sun halos are relatively common in all regions, though they do tend to happen more often on cool, crisp days (and, consequently, more often in colder regions). Because it is not advised (and can be painful) to look directly at the Sun, though, it can be hard to spot one, especially if you aren’t wearing sunglasses. In fact, I had to put on Sandi’s sunglasses to see this one. Looking without them was too blinding.
Yes, recently on two different occasions! The thing is I, nor anyone else i have talked to, Remembers having seen one before. Are these rare occurrences in Texas Gulf Coast area?
I have because I live in Nova Scotia. it’s not rare to see a sundog in January.
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