Circular halo – mysteries of the universe

Halos can have many forms, ranging from coloured or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky.

On the sunny afternoon of June 2, our school Head Mistress Anjali Sharma sent a message to the students of to look up at the sky and ponder upon why the Sun had a ring around it. I ran up to the roof to find out what was going on. I was surprised to see the new avatar of the Sun, which was quite mesmerizing but at the same time I also feared that this was a sign of a natural disaster. I wondered if there was a hole in the sky or maybe another planet was falling towards us. I finally decided to research it to find out the real cause. To my relief, my fear was unfounded.

I realised that this phenomenon is called a halo or “22-degree halo”. It is an optical phenomenon produced by light interacting with hexagonal ice crystals suspended in citrus clouds. This is also known as the Kaleidoscopic effect. Halos can have many forms, ranging from coloured or white rings to arcs and spots in the sky. Many of these appear near the sun or moon, but others occur elsewhere or even in the opposite part of the sky. Among the best-known halo types is the circular halo. Sun’s rays cannot enter the ring and hence it also looks like a hole in the sky.

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I’m glad in this lockdown, residents of Hyderabad got a chance to experience this unusual act of nature and it reminds us that there is so much more to explore and understand about the mysteries of the universe.

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