SOME EARLY RISERS today may have had to rub their eyes once or twice when they spotted this in the sky.

What looks like some sort of miraculous vision, is actually something known as a ‘sun halo’.

Optical phenomenon

This halo of light seen circling around the sun in Dublin city this morning is said to be an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky.

They can appear around the sun and the moon.

According to Earthsky.org, the halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet or more above our heads.

These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals. The halos you see are caused by both refraction or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals.

The crystals bend direct sunlight at a 22 degree angle, projecting the light elsewhere into the sky and creating a halo that can be seen around the sun.