SAN DIEGO – A California-based photographer shared the moment he saw a full rainbow of light around the sun, calling it a “sunbow.”
Shawn White, of San Diego, said he “had to share the phenomenon with everyone” when he captured the “full sunbow” event on Jan. 13.
Sunlight can form all kinds of unique shapes depending on the weather and the light at the time, including sun dogs, sun pillars and halos.
According to National Center for Atmospheric Research scientist Michael Kavulich, this rainbow-around-the-sun phenomenon known as a “halo” is created by ice crystals and light refraction, which changes the direction of a wave of light.
The ring of light forms around the sun or the moon when light refracts off ice crystals within a thin layer of cirrus clouds, according to the National Weather Service.
The most common type of “sunbow” is the 22-degree halo, according to the World Meteorological Organization. The 22-degree halo appears as a luminous ring of a 22-degree radius with the sun or moon at its center.
Halos can appear as a white ring or, in this case, have multiple colors such as red or violet giving off a rainbow or “sunbow” effect.