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If you looked into the sky of Dien Bien Province, about 500 kilometers west of Hanoi, on Friday morning, you may have seen a large circle around the sun. Such rainbow ring known as halo is caused by sunlight hitting ice crystals.
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A ring around the sun was sighted yesterday morning in Dien Bien Province. The phenomenon was observed between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. A local witness said the halo around the sun looked like a rainbow. |
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Astronomy expert Nguyen Duc Phuong said this phenomenon occurs when sunlight refracts through clouds in the sky drifting about 6-7 kilometers about our heads. These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals. And the halo occurs when the sun’s rays get refracted through the ice crystals present in the clouds, accompanied with the reflection of light from these ice crystals. |
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The phenomenon took place when the sky over Dien Bien Province looked fairly clear. |
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The sun halo was a sight to behold and can be seen with naked eye. |
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Experts denied that the sun halo is a sign that a great flood is coming. |
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Light is reflected and refracted when it passes through the ice crystals in the clouds and then split up into many colors. Like rainbows, halos around the sun are personal. People see different colors around the halo as they observe the effect from different angles. |
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The phenomenon is also known as circular halo of the sun or occasionally the moon. |
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This is not the first time Vietnamese people observed this natural phenomenon. The sun halo has been sighted in the highland city of Da Lat and the central coastal city of Da Nang. |
