Sharjah: Rare 22° halo forms around Sun today; why it happened
Sharjah residents: Did you look up today?
On Saturday afternoon, a wonderful phenomenon took over Sharjah's skies — the 22° halo.
This optical phenomenon was a result of the refraction of sunlight through ice crystals found in high, thin clouds, such as cirrus clouds, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Astronomical Society, Ibrahim Al Jarwan said.
Take a look at a photograph of the stunning spectacle below:
How does this form a halo?
Hexagonal ice crystals form these clouds. So, when sunlight gets refracted through those ice crystals a circular ring of light is created around the Sun.
The angle — 22° — is the angular radius of the corona we see around the Sun, not the angle of refraction of the light.
This phenomenon could also be an indication of changes in weather conditions, like an approaching low pressure system.
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