Robin Horne (Member 63,749) looked up from a beach walk in Northumberland, England to see this disused factory chimney had magically transformed into a flaming lantern surrounded by a broad ring of light.
A 22-degree halo like this can form as sunlight shines through cloud ice crystals that are shaped like miniature hexagonal columns that are tumbling through the sky. The crystals forming Robin’s halo were up in Cirrus fibratus radiatus clouds.
It’s as if nature has cast a spell across the sky, the atmosphere whispering ‘Lumos!’ on a grand, icy scale.