Rainbow around the sun

A rainbow around the sun in PhuketDid anyone else in Thailand see this curious spectacle last Friday? I’m unsure if it was limited to Phuket, but sure enough, there was a rainbow around the sun. I tried in vain to catch a glimpse of the rainbow with my naked eyes and subsequently spent the proceeding 30 minutes completely blind.

It was only when I was in a car that I was able to to look at the sun without blinding myself. Apparently, the rainbow was caused by ice crystals refracting light from the sun.

I was told that this sort of rainbow only occurs every 100 years or so, but I have my doubts about this claim.

10 Responses to Rainbow around the sun

  1. Gunny says:

    I saw this one, and the one last year too. 100 years? Urban myth.

  2. The Lost Boy says:

    Looks cool, right?

  3. tristan says:

    yeah … just a LOT of humidity in the air … 100 years no … you can see that almost everynight around the moon at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe …. awesome //

  4. Lana says:

    I saw it, too! At about lunchtime ya?

  5. oakmonster says:

    Thai people call it "Pra Aatit Song Klod", the Sun God under an umbrella. Descriptive, yes? :)

    Nah. You'll see one once in a while. You'll see 'em around a full moon too. When there's enough ice crystals in the atmosphere. Or something like that. (Too lazy to look it up right now.) You'll have a rain in a few days.

  6. Talen says:

    I have a picture just like it that I took last May in Pattaya…Looks cool but I was told it is caused by air pollution. Be nice to get a definitive answer as to what causes these rings.

  7. The Lost Boy says:

    I'm going to go with magic.

  8. Roger says:

    Haze effect… visible in polluted air or in winter…

  9. Kiki Shan says:

    it's actually a halo effect…in california we had it like 4 yrs ago and we had one again on wednesday on march 24, 2009…i think

  10. matt says:

    Hey, I saw one on May 5th, 2009 in Sicily, Italy. It was around noon and lasted 2-3 hrs. I wonder if the whole world (in daylight) could see it?

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