Have you ever seen a ghostly rainbow halo, a ring around the sun? The sight was spotted in the sky of Damanjodi in Koraput district on Sunday.
Amid the coronavirus scare and restrictions of lockdown, the residents of the locality enjoyed the circular halo around the sun that lasted for about 10 minutes. At the same time, they feared for a suspected climate change in upcoming days. However, astronomy experts ruled out people’s assumption.
Deputy Director of Pathani Samanta Planetarium, Bhubaneswar, Dr Subhendu Pattnaik termed the halo as an ‘optical illusion’.
“It is not a rare occurrence in the sky. Halo is an optical phenomenon produced by light interacting with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. The halo around the sun is caused by the reflection and dispersion of light through ice particles suspended within thin clouds. As sunlight passes through the six-arm-shaped ice crystals, it is bent, creating a circular halo around the sun,” Patnaik explained.
