Halo seen around sun

A bright halo around the sun in the shape of a ring generated excitement for about 30 minutes in the city today. “This celestial feature,known as 22 degree halo of the sun,occurs when cirrus clouds characterised by thin,wisplike strands and tufts are present in the atmosphere,” M P Birla planetarium director D P Duari said. The clouds at an altitude of 5-10 km form when water vapour turns into ice crystals.

“The sunlight passing through the ice crystals shaped like hexagons are refracted by 22 degrees causing the ring like shape,” Duari said.

Scientists have shown that the geometry of the ring was 44 times the size of the sun.