Looking at the clouds from above can sometimes let you see things that would otherwise be invisible. When Patrick Dennis (Member 43,666) flew through a Cirrostratus cloud above Indiana, US, he glanced out his window to find a 22-degree halo, a lower sun pillar, a subsun, and a subparhelion.

These are all optical effects caused by the sunlight refracting through or reflecting off the cloud’s ice crystals. The 22-degree halo is the circle around the Sun, and the lower sun pillar is that column of light descending from the base of this circle. The subsun is the bright patch of light within this column, and the subparhelion is the fainter patch of light off to the lower left. These last two could never be seen in Cirrostratus clouds from the ground.

Next time you’re on a flight, if the movie’s doing nothing for you, try looking through the window, like Patrick did, for some out-of-flight entertainment.