Awestruck in Bohol: Townsfolk treated to sun halo

Some residents in Inabanga taown in Bohol witness a “sun halo” just before noon on Tuesday, June 30, 2020. (Photo courtesy: Hilralin Betonio Escabusa)

TAGBILARAN CITY—People in Inabanga town in Bohol were awestricken by a rare sight in the sky—the sun surrounded by a halo—on Tuesday (June 30).

Hiralin Betonio Escabusa, a resident of the village of Lawis, said it was her first time to see a sun halo.

“I was amazed and curious as to what it was. It was my first time to see it,” she told Inquirer.

Escabusa, 32, said her grandmother told her that a sun halo is a sign of a coming storm.

Whatever it was, the phenomenon attracted Escabusa and other curious onlookers.

Earthsky.org said a sun halo is a large ring or circle of light around the sun or moon that is formed due to high clouds.

High cirrus clouds, which develop at 20,000 feet, are composed of ice crystals.

Halos are typically seen when six-sided ice crystals have a random orientation. The sunlight is dispersed through the ice crystals and the light is refracted, creating the image of a halo.

Halos can also be seen around the moon, if conditions are right.

TSB