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Last Sunday, my wife noticed a rainbow in the sky, but this one was different from those one normally sees. Instead of extending from the ground and arching back to the ground, this one went around the sun. Its position was about halfway between the sun and the horizon. This puzzled us since we thought that a rainbow was created when the observer is between the sun and the water that refracts the sun light. In this case, we were not between the sun and the clouds in the sky.
Can you help us understand what we saw?
Thanks,
Mark
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Nice Question Mark, we get asked this one pretty often. See, what you were seeing, wasn't made of rain, so it wasn't a rainbow. You were seeing a halo which is made of tiny ice crystals shaped like hexagons in the sky. These ice crystals bend the light back to your eyes so you see a ring around the sun! Other fun optical effects that you can see from ice include sundogs, sun pillars, and tangent arcs on a really good day.
Check out this great link on the right, it has some more helpful information on halos.
Answered by KSL Meteorologist Dina Freedman.
