What is 22-degree halo?

A 22-degree halo is a pretty circle that appears around the Sun or Moon, like a glowing ring.

Imagine you're playing with your friend on a sunny day, and you both have round glasses, like tiny sunglasses, made of clear ice. When light passes through these icy glasses, it bends and spreads out, making a circle around the bright object. That’s what happens in the sky when ice crystals high up in the clouds act like those little glasses.

High up in the sky, there are tiny ice crystals, like frozen sugar cubes. These ice crystals catch the light from the Sun or Moon and bend it, just like a prism bends light into rainbows. Because of how these crystals are shaped and positioned, they make a circle, called a halo, that’s about 22 degrees wide.

You can think of it like a magic cookie cutter in the sky! The ice crystals act as the cutter, making a round shape around the Sun or Moon. You might see this when the sky is clear and cold, especially on sunny winter days, just like how you might see a ring of light if you had a tiny, icy window between you and the sun.