The new images show at least three separate optical phenomena. Each is formed by light refracted from millions of perfectly aligned ice crystals in the upper atmosphere. A scientist has recently captured a series of bright arcs and halos of light circling the sun in the sky over the United Kingdom, including an extremely rare halo spanning the entire sky.

Alan FitzsimmonsAn astronomer at the Royal University of Belfast in Northern Ireland filmed an unusual light show over the Belfast Botanic Gardens on 28 May. The show lasted about 30 minutes, Fitzsimmons told Live Science.

According to this space weather.com, some strange glowing rays were seen in other parts of Northern Ireland, but also in Northern England and Scotland. The arcs and halos are caused by millions of tiny, perfectly aligned ice crystals in Earth’s upper atmosphere that often accompany thin cirrus clouds, Fitzsimmons said. “If the winds are very smooth, the hexagonal crystals align,” he added. “This allows sunlight refracted through them to coalesce, just as light refracts through a prism to form arcs and circles of sunlight.”

The Fitzsimmons image contains at least three different confirmed optical phenomena: 22 degrees halo, a great circle surrounding the sun; couple”sun dogs“, bright spots on either side of the 22-degree halo; and parhelic circlea line that bisects a circle that also forms a complete circle around the entire sky.

According to Spaceweather.com, a full pargee circle is very rare because it requires at least five internal reflections from millions of individual ice crystals hitting the sun’s rays simultaneously. According to Spaceweather.com, images may also include evidence of a limiting halo and a supralateral arc forming “eyelids” above and below the 22-degree halo.

According to Fitzsimmons, the parhelic circle is the rarest and most “striking element” in the image. “It was something he had only seen a few times before,” he added. But other phenomena are more common than most people realize.

“The sun can be quite bright when they are open. [явища] visible, so you have to cover the sun with your thumb or a tree to see them,” said Fitzsimmons. “But in sunny weather with thin clouds at high altitude, it’s worth looking for a halo or something.”

On May 30, a photographer from Finland also took a photo of the rainbow ring of lightThe pollen surrounding the sun is known as the corona. These rings, which are formed by the light scattering of pollen grains in the air, are also difficult to see unless some of the sunlight is blocked.

Small ice crystals in the atmosphere can also create a number of other strange visual phenomena, such as polar stratospheric clouds. Shine like rainbows at the North Poleand night glow clouds (also called silver clouds) that will become more visible to people in the Arctic. Northern hemisphere in June and July.