A rare “sun halo” had Pattaya looking skyward, with gamblers, as usual, taking it as a lottery omen.
The circular rainbow – caused by pollution mixed with heavy moisture content in the atmosphere – was easily seen and many people took photos and posted it to social media.
Some saw the halo as a good sign given its timing close to the national lottery drawing. They somehow managed to divine numbers from the numberless sky show.
The sun halo phenomenon occurs in the troposphere, the lowest region of the atmosphere. Cirrus clouds in the troposphere form no more than 10 kilometers from the surface and are extremely cold.
If the air contains large amounts of water droplets, they will freeze and become ice crystals floating in the sky. These ice crystals look like jewelry. When the sun rises, light will shine onto the ice crystals and the reflection of light will result in rainbow.
The intensity of the rainbow is determined by the amount of pollution in the air. Under clear skies, the halo usually would not be seen.
