The Reason You Saw Halo Sun Today (22 Sept) & It’s Actually Quite Common

2020 has been a tough year.

A deadly virus has emerged, travel is no longer possible, and exercise is illegal.

Reader: Uh, that last one is not true.

I know it isn’t, but let’s pretend it is for a little while longer.

The point is that this year has been so bad that nothing shocks us anymore.

Thousands of jobs lost? I’m not surprised.

Changi Airport plans on scheduling flights to uh, Changi Airport? Crazier things have happened this year.

So when you looked up to the skies this afternoon (22 Sep) and saw a giant halo glowing with light, you probably assumed an alien invasion was underway, but were too desensitized to panic.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), no aliens are coming to take over our planet. It’s just an optical phenomenon.

The Reason You Saw Halo Sun Today (22 Sept) & It’s Actually Quite Common

Residents all over the country caught a glimpse of a large halo encircling the sun as the day passed its 12th hour.

According to The Straits Times, the halo sun was spotted at several locations including Tampines, Simei and Ubi, prompting onlookers to snap photos for likes on social media.

Some residents at Clementi also spotted the beautiful ring of light.

The most gorgeous photo of them all, however, was one taken at the Gardens by the Bay.

So, what exactly is happening here?

An Optical Phenomenon 

According to Spectrum News, halo suns are caused by cirrus clouds, which are made of millions of tiny ice crystals and look like long, thin, wispy streamers in the sky.

When these clouds are extremely high in the sky, these ice crystals reflect and refract sunlight, forming what looks like a halo around the sun.

What’s interesting is that everyone will see a different halo depending on their location, according to Earth Sky.

Because the crystals have to be oriented and positioned in such a way with respect to your eye, everyone will see their own particular halo, which could even differ from the person standing next to you.

According to weather folklore, a ring around the sun means that it will rain soon. There may be some truth to this saying, because high cirrus clouds often come before a storm.

Some Mexicans were prophesizing the end of the world when they saw it in Mexico City in 2015, but it’s a perfectly normal phenomenon, and has been seen in other countries as well.

So, the world is not ending after all. Though some Instagrammers, who’ve not been able to post pictures of their plane tickets for several months, will say that it already has.