# What was this solar phenomenon

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 27, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941 "2007-11-27T19:09:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/1 "2007-11-27T19:09:52Z")

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We paid a visit to some local tidepools this weekend and the weather was cool with a thin but uninterrupted layer of cloud cover. It was about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so the sun was past it’s peak, but not quite setting. When we looked at it we could see a circular “rainbow” surrounding the sun. It was about 10 times the diameter of the sun’s disc and had faint bands of color.

Is there a name for this?

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**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/2 "2007-11-27T19:27:56Z")

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Sounds like a [halo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/3 "2007-11-27T19:49:32Z")

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Hmmm. Interesting. It looked exactly like the ice-bow pictures, but we’re in San Diego and it was 60 degrees. Looks like that was it, though.

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**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/4 "2007-11-27T19:52:54Z")

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Just because it’s warm down on the surface of the earth, doesn’t mean there can’t be ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/5 "2007-11-27T19:53:55Z")

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True. It also says in **Anne Neville’s** link that it could be other forms of moisture.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2007, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-this-solar-phenomenon/427941/6 "2007-11-27T20:30:52Z")

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[QUOTE=Terminus Est]  
Just because it’s warm down on the surface of the earth, doesn’t mean there can’t be ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.  
[/QUOTE]

Those cirrus clouds that produce halos are very high in the atmosphere. I’ve seen them above me from an airplane flying at 35,000 feet or so. [That high in the atmosphere, it’s always cold enough for ice crystals to form, everywhere in the world.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troposphere#Temperature)