A set of concentric, faintly colored rings of light that appear around the shadow of an observer's head when cast onto a cloud or fog bank below, caused by the complex backscattering of light from tiny water droplets. Because a glory forms directly opposite the sun from the observer's own vantage point, each person sees the rings centered only on their own shadow. The phenomenon inspired the halo-like imagery of Buddhist and Christian religious art depicting a luminous aura around a holy figure's head.
Facts
Identification
Distinguishing AppearanceOne or more concentric, successively dimmer rings, each red on the outside and bluish towards the centre. 1 First DescribedReported by Antonio de Ulloa and Pierre Bouguer from Pambamarca in the Ecuadorian Andes (Ulloa's halo) 1 Sources
1. Glory (optical phenomenon), Wikipedia
Appearance and observation
The glory consists of one or more concentric, successively dimmer rings, each of which is red on the outside and bluish towards the centre.
Ulloa's halo
Antonio de Ulloa and Pierre Bouguer, reported that while walking near the summit of the Pambamarca mountain, in the Ecuadorian Andes, they saw their shadows projected on a lower-lying cloud, with a circular "halo or glory" around the shadow of the observer's head.
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