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gigatoaster

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jul 22, 2018
1,544
3,003
France
Hello there

My mom took this picture on her iPhone 15 and she is asking me if it’s a bug. Any thought?

Looks like a climate, thing or is this just a lens aberration?
IMG_0054.jpeg
 

Regulus67

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2023
376
369
Värmland, Sweden
It is ice crystals in the atmosphere that causes this. I have seen it a few times during my life, and I am 56 years old.
I have even seen a full circle around the sun, as it was high in the sky, and not near the horizon :)
You can see something similar around the moon at times. A small sphere of light surrounding it.

I suspect this is will become more common, as time goes by. Because of the whitening of the sky generally, from the exhaust from airplanes in the upper troposphere, and stratosphere. The ice is created by particles that it can bind to

Stratosphere-Feature-1049417125.jpg


edit: that small green dot to the left of the sun is lens refraction. At 1/3 distance compared to the ice ring
 
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Regulus67

macrumors 6502
Aug 9, 2023
376
369
Värmland, Sweden
I believe you, @Kottu because lense flare is very specific. I’m color blind but is it a rainbow?
It is exactly like a rainbow, in the way the light has been bent. A rainbow bends the light inside the water droplets. The ice crystals reflect the light waves, as it has a particle at it's core

 

Kottu

macrumors 6502a
Sep 21, 2014
622
622
I believe you, @Kottu because lense flare is very specific. I’m color blind but is it a rainbow?
Not like a Rainbow but like a mock sun. I found a couple of photos I took with my 12PM few years back. It's a common phenomenon in winter. When I have witnessed one like your mom saw, I was on a highway so I couldn't capture it.

What your mom saw, could be a Halo, which is related to Sun Dog. A rainbow needs both reflection and refraction. Halo is only refraction.

tempImageJw78oX.png tempImageyKQVDr.png

 
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