Solar rings: Bengaluru witnesses rare atmospheric phenomenon 'Sun Halo'

A wonderful astronomical sight was seen in the sky of Bengaluru in Karnataka on Monday. A circle was formed around the sun, which scientists call Solar Halo or Solar Ring. Awed with this circle around the sun, people started capturing the solar ring with their cameras and shared them on social media sharing pictures and funny captions with it.

Residents of India's tech hub witnessed the rainbow-coloured halo surrounding the sun as the striking circular rainbow ring was reportedly visible from most parts of the capital of Karnataka.

It was first seen around 11 a.m. and lasted for over an hour, in which time Bengaluru residents flooded social media with pictures of the rare phenomenon.

@MyGovIndia summed up the euphoria surrounding the sun and the sombre mood amidst Covid times by stating in its tweet that "Amidst such challenging times of #COVID19, this majestic optical phenomenon #SunHalo, witnessed across #Bengaluru, definitely brightened up the day!"

Amidst such challenging times of #COVID19, this majestic optical phenomenon #SunHalo, witnessed across #Bengaluru, definitely brightened up the day! pic.twitter.com/0S0uCw2Qjb

— MyGovIndia (@mygovindia) May 24, 2021

According to the UK based Atmospheric Optics, a knowledge-sharing website, the Halo phenomena happens when the light is reflected and refracted by ice crystals and may split into colours because of dispersion.

"The crystals behave like prisms and mirrors, refracting and reflecting light between their faces, sending shafts of light in particular directions. Atmospheric optical phenomena like halos were used as part of weather lore, which was an empirical means of weather forecasting before meteorology was developed. They often do indicate that rain will fall within the next 24 hours, since the cirrostratus clouds that cause them can signify an approaching frontal system," Atmospheric Optics explained.

The website stated that Halos are the collective glints of millions of crystals that happen to have the right orientation and angular position to direct their refracted light into your eye.

Sun Halo, also known as '22 degree halo', is an optical phenomenon that occurs due to sunlight refracting in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. It takes the form of a ring with a radius of approximately 22 degrees around the sun or the moon.