Looks pretty cool. Actually it’s not technically a rainbow. What you’re seeing is a 22-degree halo around the sun.
This happens when sunlight passes through millions of tiny hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high up in the atmosphere. The light is bent at an angle of about 22 degrees, creating that perfect circle of light.
A rainbow, on the other hand, is caused by water droplets in the lower atmosphere after rain, and it usually appears opposite the sun rather than surrounding it.
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u/Bonusbag 7h ago
Looks pretty cool. Actually it’s not technically a rainbow. What you’re seeing is a 22-degree halo around the sun.
This happens when sunlight passes through millions of tiny hexagonal ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds high up in the atmosphere. The light is bent at an angle of about 22 degrees, creating that perfect circle of light.
A rainbow, on the other hand, is caused by water droplets in the lower atmosphere after rain, and it usually appears opposite the sun rather than surrounding it.