Ring around the sun has Joburg curious

The ring that appeared around the sun this morning had Joburg residents wondering what it could be, social media networks such as twitter and facebook were a buzz with people chatting about the phenomenon which appeared from about 9am. The planetarium was flooded with phone calls from the public many who were worried it was the end of the world.

Claire Flannagan from the Johannesburg Planetarium said there was nothing to worry about. People are seeing the sun through moisture in the atmosphere which has a rainbow effect. Sometimes you see that there is a rainbow when the sun is behind it and the sunlight is reflecting off moisture,” she explained.

The halo that is around the sun is caused by the scattering of sunlight by tiny ice crystals very high in the sky, which is why we can see the colours within the halo, otherwise it would just be white. High clouds of ice crystals high in the sky are called cirrus clouds or cirrostratus if they form a layer. These often form in front of warm fronts that bring rain.

Weather experts said the unusual halo was not as rare as people think. A ring around the sun is also called a halo or sundog.

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Photos of the halo around the sun sent in by readers.