Sun Halo

A friend of mine, Colleen Clark from Mount Vernon, Oregon just sent me a photo she took of a fascinating ring that formed around the sun. It is called a 22° halo, which is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a halo with an apparent radius of approximately 22° around the Sun or the Moon. Around the Sun, it may also be called a Sun Halo. Around the Moon, it is also known as a moon ring, storm ring, or winter halo. It forms as sunlight is refracted by millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. Its radius, as viewed from Earth, is roughly the length of an outstretched hand at arm's length.  Moon rings are said to warn of approaching storms. Like other ice halos, sun halos appear when the sky is covered by thin cirrus and cirrostratus clouds that often come a few days before a large storm front.

I suggest that you visit Colleen’s Blog here, and encourage her to re-start it as it has been inactive for a while. She has some great, well-written inspirational posts: https://turn-uppatch.blogspot.com