Photos: Rare Sun halo dazzles Saudi Arabia skies, sparks social media buzz

Dubai: A stunning celestial spectacle lit up the skies of Saudi Arabia’s Aseer region this morning, as a rare sun halo formed a perfect, glowing ring around the sun.

The breathtaking phenomenon, captured and widely shared on social media, stopped residents in their tracks.

According to Dr Abdullah Al Musa, a researcher and agricultural calendar specialist, the phenomenon occurs when sunlight interacts with ice crystals suspended in high-altitude cirrus clouds.

These crystals, often hexagonal in shape, act like tiny prisms—bending, refracting, and reflecting light to produce the dramatic 22-degree halo seen around the sun.

In some cases, a rarer double halo can appear, with two concentric rings: one at 22 degrees and another wider ring at around 46 degrees from the sun’s center. This occurs when the shape and orientation of the ice crystals vary, producing multiple angles of refraction.

These halos may also display rainbow-like colours, with red typically on the inside and blue on the outside, due to the way light disperses through the crystals. While refraction causes the colorful separation, reflection creates whitish halos, as all wavelengths of light are reflected uniformly.

Though the 22-degree halo is the most common, it is just one of several atmospheric optical effects—others include sun pillars, parhelia (sun dogs), and tangent arcs—all formed by the interaction of light with ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.

Take a look at the rare celestial spectacle that lit up the skies: