(May 16, 2007)—A huge halo ringed the Sun Wednesday afternoon, startling some residents and delighting others.

The solar halo is actually fairly common, according to NASA.

It occurs, NASA says, when high thin clouds containing millions of tiny ice crystals cover the sky.

Each tiny crystal, NASA says, acts like a miniature lens and because most have similar elongated hexagonal shapes, light entering one face and exiting the opposite face refracts 22 degrees, which corresponds to the radius of the halo.

The halo has a reddish color on the inside and a bluish color on the outside.

To view it, you need to hide the sun with your hand—and avoid looking directly at the sun.

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