In middle of the day
This is the second time in two years a sun halo has been spotted in Singapore skies
A delightful spectacle of sun halo waited locals in Singapore on Tuesday afternoon as they stepped out and spotted a large ring encircling the sun. The onlookers took to Twitter to share the photos of the multi-hued sun halo and expressed their surprise at the unusual sight.
“Remarkable sun halo spotted today from our sports field. The faint coloured rings encircling the sun are formed by the refraction of light through ice crystals in high-level clouds under relatively clear conditions. An uncommon sight in SG,” tweeted the North London Collegiate School.
The environment agency also warned that people should not look at the halo with a naked eye as it is dangerous to look at the sun directly without proper protection, reported The Strait Times.
Gorgeous sun halo appears in S'pore sky on 8 Sep 2021
Some people out and about for lunch were pleasantly surprised to see a halo around the sun visible from various parts of Singapore at around 12:30pm
Halos appear around the sun as they indicate high, thin cirrus clouds are present at 20,000 feet or more above ground level, which contain millions of tiny ice crystals, according to Earthsky. The halos are created when light splits and reflects from these ice crystals, and only appear as a halo when the crystals are positioned with respect to your eye.
The phenomenon is also known as 22-degree halos as the ring has a radius of about 22 degrees around the sun (or even the moon). According to the University of Illinois, this happens when sunlight enters one side of an ice crystal in the cloud and exits through the side at a 22-degree angle. The bending of the light by 22 degrees from its original direction, produces a ring of light that is observed at 22 degrees from the sun or moon.
Such phenomenon happens occasionally in Singapore.
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