Ever seen a circle rainbow? I have, and i took pics!

While going through the pictures on my phone I came across these pictures that I had forgotten about. I took these pictures on June 26th, 2011 at my daughters softball tournament in north central ohio. In all my 38 years this was a 1st for me as well as all the people I pointed it out to. Just thought I would share them with everyone here at ATS. Anyone else ever seen this before? Possible causes?





I had to put my hand over the sun so I could get the picture of the rainbow halo. Pretty cool don't ya think?

i for got about the permenent one around the sun nice job thank you

Originally posted by obzerver
i for got about the permenent one around the sun nice job thank you

I saw one of these at night around the moon in Florida once. was super cool to look at!

Originally posted by imawlinn
While going through the pictures on my phone I came across these pictures that I had forgotten about. I took these pictures on June 26th, 2011 at my daughters softball tournament in north central ohio. In all my 38 years this was a 1st for me as well as all the people I pointed it out to. Just thought I would share them with everyone here at ATS. Anyone else ever seen this before? Possible causes?





I had to put my hand over the sun so I could get the picture of the rainbow halo. Pretty cool don't ya think?

should have used your head to block the sun. then you could look like an angel with a halo!

reply to post by ConspiraCity

Ya I've seen a moon halo on several occasions too but was unable to get it on my phone camera. As a matter of fact, the one moon halo I saw was right around the same time I saw the rainbow halo. Must have been something going on in the atmosphere that week? The moon halo was way cooler though, very erie looking.

I have seen the same exact thing happen,I am almost sure it happened the same date you gave,I was in Indiana when i had noticed it,I am no astronomer,or Nasa scientist but what I do understand from Hypothesis,and free knowledge I've gathered,my best educated guess is that it has something to do with the Solar flare activity that has got our scientist scratching their heads in fear,something about warning the people if a big enough Solar flare were to in fact strike the earth the worlds power grid could go down for several months maybe even years,from self taught info this seems to be a real and viable threat to our way of life as we know it.Also in connection with this our planetary alignment within what is known as the habitable zone has shifted creating holes in the earths magnetic field,thus leaving us exposed to Solar radiation of mass quantities from a hole at the top and bottom of the earths magnetic field discovered by Scientist.This place is full of info just pick out the most likely to be true,sincerely an ATS friend-John T. Baptist

reply to post by imawlinn


I am definately no expert, but I believe these are caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. Even though it is summer, it can get extremely cold up there. I believe they must be fine grained ice particles, and they diffract the light in a specific way.

Dont quote me on this, I cant seem to remember the exact nature of the diffraction or the name given to this phenomenon but I am sure I have heard of this before. I cant give sources or links ATM because I dont even know what to search. I am really grabbing at straws trying to remember back from grade-school days, sorry. I will ETA if I can find more information.

ETA: I found the information I was looking for, they are called Halo's or Icebows. Check this Wikipedia link for more information

The thin whispy nature of the background sky points towards cirrus clouds which lends even more credibility towards my guess.

Hey Dude,

All rainbows are circles, its something about the earths curve means you can only see it as a semi circle most of the time.

Cool pics though dude

You may find this link of interest :
www.atoptics.co.uk...

cool photos...I have several like this too, have seen a lot, also have seen a parhelic circle...NOW THAT was something... Keep looking up w/the camera! You may see one of those too! I think it's all fascinating!

that is not a rainbow that is an aura around the sun...a sun halo they call it.

why did you cover the sun with your hand?

as someone mentioned, all rainbows are full circles but from the ground all we can see is an ark.
any rainbow seen from a plane will be a full circle.

awesome

i hope the rainbow is not circular, how would i ever find the pot of gold and luck at the end of it ?

but seriously
i found a good link to a sun halo

www.atoptics.co.uk...