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A breathtaking video of a glowing ring around the sun, complete with bright spots and subtle rainbow arcs, has taken the Internet by storm.
Captured in Jamtland, Sweden, this stunning natural display transforms a chilly winter’s day into something truly magical.
It is all thanks to a fascinating optical phenomenon known as a sun halo.
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SCIENCE BEHIND A SUN HALO
The most common type is the 22-degree halo, a large circle of light centred on the sun with a radius of about 22 degrees, roughly the width of your outstretched hand at arm’s length.
In the recent Jamtland footage, you can see the full ring along with vivid sun dogs, intense bright patches on either side, and hints of colour that make it look almost ethereal.
These sights are more frequent in cold regions like Sweden, where low temperatures and clear skies set the perfect stage for such dazzling shows.
Winter conditions, with the sun low on the horizon, make the halo appear even larger and more dramatic against the pale blue sky.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE SPECTACLE
High up in the atmosphere, at altitudes of five to ten kilometres, thin cirrus clouds form. These wispy, high-altitude clouds contain countless tiny ice crystals shaped like perfect hexagons. Each crystal acts like a miniature prism.
When sunlight passes through the sides of these hexagonal crystals, it refracts, or bends, by a minimum of 22 degrees.
Because the crystals tumble randomly as they fall slowly through the air, light rays coming from all directions get bent in the same way. Millions of these bent rays overlap and combine to create the bright, circular ring we see around the sun.
The colours appear because different wavelengths of light bend by slightly different amounts.
Red light bends the least, so it forms the inner edge of the halo. Orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet follow outward, producing those subtle rainbow-like fringes that add extra beauty to the display.
Sun dogs, also known as parhelia, form when the ice crystals are flat and plate-like.
These plates tend to drift down horizontally, like falling leaves. This alignment concentrates sunlight into two bright spots on either side of the sun, often with striking colour separation.
Many people who saw the video described it as “nature at its finest” or “a heavenly crown”. Yet it is pure physics at work, no mystery required.
This Swedish halo serves as a beautiful reminder that everyday light interacting with tiny ice particles can produce jaw-dropping wonders in the sky.
Next time you notice high, feathery clouds on a sunny winter’s day, look up. You might be rewarded with your own spectacular halo display.
– Ends
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