Family member saw an upside down rainbow in the distance & looked up to see this

[broadfork@mastodon.green]

@kellyromanych Hoping this won’t turn out to be some Death Star approaching. 2026 has been quite the year.

I’ve never seen the like. Wow.

[wendinoakland@beige.party]

@Broadfork @kellyromanych Don’t freak out — it’s just a light refraction thing. It’s a rainbow that continues all the way round, because there’s just the right amount of atmospheric humidity.

[broadfork@mastodon.green]

@wendinoakland @kellyromanych Forgive my faux overreacting

Thanks for the explanation. It’s still a wow.

[wendinoakland@beige.party]

@Broadfork @kellyromanych and forgive my humorless nerdiness!

[broadfork@mastodon.green]

@wendinoakland @kellyromanych Not at all, your input is much appreciated. You may well have stopped a stampede of ignorance which is always a good thing.

[alison@beige.party]

@wendinoakland Is this an example of a "sun dog"? @Broadfork @kellyromanych

[kellyromanych@mastodon.social]

@Alison a sun halo. Here's a sun dog (lol the sun dog usually has sun near horizon)

@wendinoakland @Broadfork

[wendinoakland@beige.party]

@Alison
@Alison @Broadfork @kellyromanych okay, that’s when ice crystals reflect light. Wikipedia explains it much better than I can: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog

[wendinoakland@beige.party]

@kellyromanych @Alison @Broadfork Aww, ️

[kellyromanych@mastodon.social]

@Broadfork i hear ya, maybe we consider it a cosmic cleanser?

[davemasondotme@mastodon.social]

@kellyromanych
I've seen a few guesses already in this thread.

Here's mine: 22° halo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22%C2%B0_halo

[amal_@mastodon.social]

@kellyromanych
Lovely as Ramadan is close. ️️