What mainly causes a 22-degree halo?

Refraction through ice crystals

What is a sun pillar?

A vertical beam of light above or below the Sun

Sun Halo Quiz: Ice Crystals, Sundogs and 22-Degree Rings

A bright ring around the Sun, with colorful spots on each side, has fooled people into thinking they were seeing omens, and this sun halo quiz explains the optics. Play 10 interactive questions on cirrostratus clouds, six-sided ice crystals, the 22-degree halo, sundogs, the circumzenithal arc, sun pillars, the rarer 46-degree halo, moon halos and weather folklore.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Size
How far from the Sun does the common halo appear?
Crystals
What shape are the ice crystals that make halos?
Clouds
Which clouds usually produce halos?
Process
What mainly causes a 22-degree halo?
Color
Which color appears on the inner edge of a halo?
Sundogs
What are sundogs?
Arc
Which arc looks like an upside-down rainbow high in the sky?
Pillar
What is a sun pillar?
Rare
Which halo is larger and rarer?
Folklore
What does the folk saying say a ring around the Sun or Moon means?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: How far from the Sun does the common halo appear?
Answer: About 22 degrees
Your outstretched hand spans roughly that.
Q2: What shape are the ice crystals that make halos?
Answer: Hexagonal
Light passes through their faces.
Q3: Which clouds usually produce halos?
Answer: Thin cirrostratus
They are high and icy.
Q4: What mainly causes a 22-degree halo?
Answer: Refraction through ice crystals
Light bends as it passes through.
Q5: Which color appears on the inner edge of a halo?
Answer: Red
The colors are usually faint.
Q6: What are sundogs?
Answer: Bright spots on either side of the Sun
Plate crystals create them.
Q7: Which arc looks like an upside-down rainbow high in the sky?
Answer: The circumzenithal arc
It forms near the zenith.
Q8: What is a sun pillar?
Answer: A vertical beam of light above or below the Sun
Plate crystals reflect light.
Q9: Which halo is larger and rarer?
Answer: The 46-degree halo
It needs special crystal paths.
Q10: What does the folk saying say a ring around the Sun or Moon means?
Answer: Rain is coming soon
Cirrostratus can come ahead of a warm front.

Sun Halo Quiz – Ice Crystals, Sundogs and 22-Degree Rings

A sun halo is a ring of light around the Sun created by ice crystals in thin, high cirrostratus clouds. Most halos appear about 22 degrees from the Sun because light refracts through six-sided ice crystals, bending by at least that angle.

Halos have a faint red inner edge. When flat plate crystals drift horizontally, they create sundogs, bright spots on either side of the Sun. Other effects include the upside-down rainbow of the circumzenithal arc, sun pillars and the rare 46-degree halo.

Moon halos form the same way. Folklore says a ring around the Sun or Moon means rain is coming, because cirrostratus clouds often arrive ahead of a warm front.

What This Quiz Teaches

Weather and science fans will enjoy these questions.

What causes halos
Which clouds create them
Which related effects exist
How large they appear
What folklore says

Did You Know?

Halos are more common than rainbows in many places.
Never look directly at the Sun to view a halo.
Ice fog can make halos near the ground.
Sundogs are also called parhelia.
Photographers block the Sun with a pole or roof.